@PBMichiganWolverine yes, very much so. I’m reminded of something I read early on in your reviews - that the special bottlings and limited editions rarely live up to the hype and price. Sage advice, to be sure. To this end, batch 5 of Glenallachie 10 Year CS is outstanding, and the kind of quality I was hoping to find in the Kilkerran 8. Amazing value too at $70 here in California.

@PBMichiganWolverine Yes, it was the first "official" release and remains the core expression.

@cascode you’re right—-I was thinking 12, but thought it was 16. Is 12 the regular core one?

@PBMichiganWolverine I'd vote for the 12 as the best of their core lineup all round, but yes the 16 is good value. It's odd because those expressions both tower over everything else Glengyle produces. I guess they are still finding their way but it's odd after such a thunderously good initial bottling as the 12.

@fomo seems like when it comes to Kilkerran, stick to the 16...really good VFM as well

@PBMichiganWolverine I recently opened both the 2019 and 2021 Sherry cask expressions and was a little underwhelmed by both. Perhaps my expectations of the 8 year were too high and perhaps they’ll open up with time, but its cousins - Springbank 12 and Hazelburn 13 - are quite a bit better (and easier to find) imho.

@PBMichiganWolverine I’ve not tried any of the 8y/o, yet. It’s not something you come across often (in Scotland at least). I’ll need to add it to the ‘look out’ list!

The 12 is a classic great VFM, but have you tried any of the 8? Those are Sherry matured, wondering how this holds up in a Sherry cask

@cascode I agree with that. All of the heavily peated Kilkerran I've tried have been a bit 'meh'. I'd say this one has a better profile than the Batch 3, but only for a single dram. The nose is terrible and the funk is just too pronounced to have this as a regular dram.

I've not been particularly enthused by any of the Kilkerran heavily peated expressions so far. This one sounds stranger than Batch 3.