[WHISKY REVIEW 41] Kilkerran - No Longer a Work In Progress 🥃

steemswede (70)in #whisky • 7 years ago

In August last year, Kilkerran (or rather Glengyle) finally reached the goal of releasing a whisky with an age statement after a series of seven "Work in progress" bottles from 2009 to 2015. I was hugely impressed by the sherry version of WIP 6, so I'm really looking forward to this 12 year old that will be the standard entry level bottle of the fairly new Glengyle distillery. Let's get straight to it!

Kilkerran 12 YO

ABV: 46%
Age: 12
Distillery: Glengyle
Region: Campbeltown
Cask type: 70% Bourbon / 30% Sherry Casks
Price: ~45 USD / 0.7L
Natural color & non-chill filtered

Appearance: Straw.

Nose: Slightly chalky with notes of fresh lemon, seaweed, canned pears and honeyed water accompanied by almond paste and marzipan. There's also something that reminds me of liniment together with an assortment of herbs. The smoke is more restrained and in the background than in the WIP 6. What a refreshing nose!

Palate: Quite peppery, I didn't expect that! The lemon and honey takes the pepperiness down a few notches. The chalky qualities from the nose are here as well. The herbal notes of rosemary and thyme screams Campbeltown and Springbank. Again, like drinking the liquid from canned pears / peaches. I can feel the peat, but oddly enough not much smoke.

Finish: Here the peated malt speaks a bit more clearly and becomes almost sooty/ashy. It's a very long finish with notes of salty liquorice and slightly bitter lemon zest.

Conclusion: Beautiful craftsmanship and probably the biggest bang for buck out there right now. I will certainly follow their progress closely. Watch out Springbank, you've got serious competition! 95 points out of 100.