Kilkerran 12 Year

Appearance: gold-Amber color with medium viscosity Nose: delicate, moderate age with caramel, honeysuckle, strawberry pop tart, pencil eraser, light band aid smoke Palate: salty, sweet, sour, jammy, green apple Great Scotch!

This is obviously a Campbeltown product. The nose is brine and lemon and grass, with just a touch of smoke, as though from a fire doused the night before. Palate leads with lemons, then lemon oil, then a flash of wet hay and finally the smoke appears and carries it to the short, slightly sweet, clean finish. This is quite good, and something I would gladly drink on a regular basis. The only problem I have is that Springbank exists, and the 10 yr is cheaper and has many of the same flavors (in different proportion) plus a few more, while for only a few dollars more, the Springbank 12yr CS blows this out of the water. It's good, but I think Springbank does it better.

Sweet and smoky at first taste. The aftertaste is lemon, citrus and salt, and a strange, but not unpleasant, grapefruit taste. It’s a smooth, oily dram and, overall, very nice. I can’t help thinking another few years to rest might make it even better.