Kilkerran Heavily Peated batch 5

Open 14 months Nose - Ash, iodine, wet hay, barnyard dust, white pepper, no oak notes, and strong ethanol. Palate - Bitter medicinal ash, brine, very light honeysuckle, and big ethanol bite. Finish is medium-long with dry malt, sawdust, light baking spices, and medium ethanol. This is a waste of money. I thought I'd be cute and try this over the prohibitively expensive Springbank offerings. Big mistake. It takes all of the worst qualities of Islay cask strengths into a younger, ashier, medicinal version. It's probably the most similar to a Laphroaig 10Y Cask Strength, but inferior on every level. Do not spend $100 on this. Honestly it's probably closer to the McClelland's Islay I bought years ago for $27, but much harsher due to the high abv. It also reminds me of a cheaper mezcal. I'm skeptical of Glengyle products now, but maybe their older stuff is better.

If you see a bottle of this let me know and I’ll come buy it. Ok, this has very much the same nutty, peaty character of the Ardbeg Corryvreckan but with less of the peppery notes and a long finish. I’d rate this higher than the Corryvreckan but below a Laphroag 10 Cask Strength.

N: Lemon curd, lemon cake, vanilla yogurt, toasted marshmallow, cherry pie, dried fish, tennis balls, new tires. Good swirl releases campfire smoke, pine, and bread baking over that campfire. This is the kind you can nose over and over again and never really feel like you hit bottom. Always something new. P: Vanilla cake with lemon filling, toasted marshmallow again, earth, big wood spice, pine, cherry, herbal tea, mint, ethanol, dash of bitterness, dash of sourness, some salt, caramel. Again, really just keeps coming. Good, round mouthfeel - good weight on the tongue and in the mouth. F: Slightly medicinal, earthy, herbal, vanilla candy, Tootsie Roll, barrel spice, some more fruit, more anonymous on the finish then elsewhere. This is just fantastic. It's like they turned the volume up to 11 on the 12 year. 57.7%, but doesn't say it's cask strength, so conceivably they cut it to 115.4 proof, which would be hilarious. I assume it is cask strength though. And it is probably the best cask strength scotch I've ever had. It is completely drinkable at that proof. In fact, delicious. I'm regretting not having bought two of these when I had the chance - not really expecting to see this batch again. But I'll dive into the next one with high hopes. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord: https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)

Def heavily peated and awesome!

Ça goûte les céréales, la tourbe, le foin, miel, raisin sec, poivre. C'est bien puissant comme beuvrage, ça donne un bon choc et je suis un habitué des Whiskeys. Les épices donne une finale assez agréable, ça donne bien chaud en descendant. Je trouve que c'est un Scotch qui ressemble beaucoup à un Bourbon un peu et c'est très agréable pour mes papilles. Mon meilleur Scotch a vie pour l'instant en tout cas mais... j'en ai quelques autres en réserve encore

Tasted at The Oak Barrel Springbank evening, May 28 2022. Nose: Sweet, mild peat reek. Vanilla cake, caramel, lemon, white wine, beeswax, brine. The nose is raw and young on first nosing pour but over time, and particularly with a drop of water, it blooms a little as the fruity notes become more tropical and aromas of earth and mudflats at low tide emerge. Palate: Citrus fruit, lemon yoghurt, malted biscuit and sweet smoke on the arrival. Lemon sweets and spice notes appear in the development. The texture is oily, becoming creamy and silken with dilution which also develops a more maritime character. Finish: Medium/long. Smoked fish with charred lemon slices. A whiff of steamship smoke across a restful sea. A fresh, young smoky whisky that is absolutely west coast highland in character. The Glengyle interpretation of “heavily peated” is, like that of Longrow and Ledaig, less intense than most whiskies made on Islay. However do not mistake lower intensity for insipid. This has a raw, forceful edge to it. The alcohol is well contained and this whisky is approachable neat but adding water does no harm at all. However don’t add too much as it loses impact if taken below 50%. It’s not a brittle whisky that falls apart suddenly, but you will hit a point where you will feel annoyed for having spoiled the dram by adding too much water, and like all peated whisky it can develop plastic notes if diluted too far. The Kilkerran Heavily Peated expressions have been slowly improving. Batch 1 was a good start and Batch 2 improved on that. Batch 3 lacked presence and had weak smoke and while Batch 4 was better it is with this batch that the expression is just beginning to get dialed in and it's the first batch I'd call "good". The key is both age (wow, really?) and the right proportion of sherry to bourbon. Peat reek degrades quickly and (as Octomore 10 year old proves) the most intense, raw peat smoke is not necessarily the most enjoyable. It’s worth sacrificing impact for elegance while still striving for depth and complexity. Thankfully that seems to be the direction in which Kilkerran Heavily Peated is heading. This Heavily Peated series is still a work in progress, but it *is* making progress. I'd wager that by the time the spirit is around 10 years old it will be something special. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)