Very peaty as expected, I felt this one was much better when reduced with water as lots of flavours were masked or locked away behind the wall of peat smoke. 87/100
Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 4
Kilkerran 12 Years Old
Smoother and more refined than I last remember, possibly due to slightly older stock being available? Incredibly mealy and cereal led with soft peat smoke pervading later. 87/100
Kilkerran 12 Years Old
A remarkable single malt from Glengyle distillery, this Kilkerran 12 Years Old is marvellously constructed and is one I have been meaning to write a review of since buying the bottle. Unfortunately every dram I pour for the purposes of analysis and review gets slowly and quietly consumed while I revel in its pure pleasure. This dram could sit and watch you read a book, in a comfy leather armchair, by a real wood fire and still be there for a sip now and again should you need one! 86/100
Kilkerran 8 Years Old Open Day 2016
Great whisky but towards the end becomes a little spirit and youthfull outliving its sherry cask maturation – thankfully like all great whisky this is tamed with a drop of water which just improves things all-round. 87/100
Kilkerran 9 Years Old Open Day 2015
This has a rich rummy sweetness but just can’t quite carry this the whole distance, definitely a candied wood and whisky feel to this one. 86/100
Kilkerran Work In Progress 7 Bourbon Wood
A powerful and slightly unusual expression. There is a mass of vanilla here from the cask but water snuffs this out and I feel suddenly transported back to the WIP2 and 3 editions I have tried in terms of vigour and power on the palate. A slightly more rounded impression is given here. This is surely uncompromising stuff but a little over-mineralic and spicy for my palate initially, it requires time and I can only imagine represents some of the classic expressions of Campbeltown’s heyday – whisky as it was meant to be? 89/100
Kilkerran Work in Progress 3
Alluring and warm… a great summers evening dram that leaves you licking your lips for more. 76/100
Kilkerran Work In Progress 2
Better than I was expecting, my last experience of Kilkerran was the WIP5 at the 2013 Glasgow Whisky Festival at which it stood out as young and harsh – but possibly due to unfair comparison with some really very old and beautifully constructed whiskies around it. This was actually quite refreshingly bourbon-matured in character after a couple of reasonably older, more sherried drams. 80/100
The Whiskyphiles 