Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch #2

Very powerful! Young dram so phenols punch you in the face, strong peat, wet grass and oak, honey, ginger, very hot. Adding a few drops of water brings out the stone fruits, vanilla, butterscotch from the 12 but sharper.

Last dram Nose: manure, sea air, salt, smoke, very farmy Body: full, punchy, viscous Palate: salt, dirt, manure, lots and lots of peat, an underlying sweetness, a classic Springbank funk to it Finish: long, mouth-coating, eviscerating I have fallen in love with this dram, has either evened out over time or I’ve just gotten used to it. I want another bottle!

Nose: smoke, apple, caramel, menthol Taste: apple juice, heavy alcohol, honey, chili spice Finish: short, burning spice and peat Young, intense and Smokey. Definitely alcohol forward but not overwhelming.

Online drammers pour. At 3 years old sticks up well to superstar drams, including a 38 year old Springbank sherry cask 616 from bottler dun Bheagan, a 31 year Springbank single cask 2926 from the bottlers, 21 year Springbank cask 297, and Cadenheads warehouse longrow 15 year Chardonnay cask. Nose: Vanilla, Caramel, Chocolate, Buttercream Frosting, pineapple, citrus, smoke, salmon, salt, passion fruit, apricot, sultanas, raisins, butterscotch, mackerels, grass Palate: vanilla, caramel, coal, pineapple, eucyptalus, grass, peach, cherry, mango, dark chocolate, Finish: chocolate covered cherries, smoke, peach, dried fruit, honey, vanilla Surprisingly not so smoky, in fact less smoky than the Kilkerran 15 Oloroso Wood I have in my own collection.

The nose opens up very flavorful. Creamy and buttery, very smooth, not the slightest alcohol noticeable, the peat really doesn’t come across as heavy but more as a nice fatty foundation to this whisky. Very nice. The palate then let’s the peat take a more dominant place and without water it really explodes in your mouth. It offers a very nice Nutella-hazelnut taste with brown melted butter. Add water to bring it down form it’s whopping 60% ABV to around 45 makes it less interesting but at least drinkable and let’s you enjoyed the subtle notes like fruit jam, vanilla ice cream, ginger and roasted caramelized cereal. The finish expectedly long and full. Not bad at all but inferior to the 12y regular bottling. They are hard to compare though because they are really different. I don’t really see the point of this whisky being over 60% ABV. doesn’t do it a lot of good. The nose though is really nice. Worth a dram but would chose the 12y regular over this one any time.

Word of warning: TAKE WATER! 61% is a lot for any whisky, let alone heavily Peated. This is a good whisky but I could imagine people being put off by its potency. Nose: meaty, smoked bacon, ham, salty pork, lots of smoke, very farmy With water: sharpened initially, adding more earth and manure, freshly rolled pastures Body: full, oily, potent, spicy and salty With water: gets spicier and fuller weirdly, will experiment with more water later Palate: smoke, salt and the end, again lots of manure, earthy, somewhat bitter and sour With water: more intense?! Smokier, saltier, sharper Finish: not a painful finish, but again bitter and sour, mouth coating salt One to get to know and find the right amount of water for the individual. 3.5 because I haven’t found it quite yet and it’s a little one-note so far.

Nose - heavy vanilla, cream, earthy peat, toasted oak, and just a very caramel toasted element. Taste - The flavor is all kinds of chemicals. There's of course vanilla and oak and earthy esters. But it's so unique. I get almost a really strong white wine finish here. There are notes of medicinal. This is far more bright and vibrant than a laphroiag but I get so much medicinal in a similar opening. I was pretty negative on this originally, but I'm a 2.0 on this. It's grown on me.