Kilkerran 12 Yr. Single Malt Scotch

The nose shows roasted pineapple, vanilla, dried apricots, black pepper, nori, almonds, toffee, and brown sugar. The palate shows the light peat influence with smoked peanuts,butterscotch, dried stone fruits, lemon meringue, noyaux, and a gentle smoke to finish.  46% ABV D&M Tasting Notes

This delivers a highly distinctive combination of fruity, savory, and spicy aromas: damson, cherry, aromatic smoke, and pastrami, with increasing peatiness, backed up by cake mix, dried peel, pink peppercorn, nutmeg, and licorice. The mouthfeel changes gears from sweet to oily, beginning with orange peel, lime, watermelon, lemon curd, toffee, and sherbet, then pivots to peat smoke, orange fondant, red apple, gingerbread, and peppery base notes. 93 PointsJonny McCormick, Whisky Advocate (Fall 2022)

“Kilkerran” is derived from the Gaelic Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain (head of the lake of St. Kieran’s cell). This was the name of the settlement founded by Saint Kieran, and it is believed that the town of Campbeltown now sits on that spot. The distillery as it stands is really a blend of new and old with 40% of the equipment being refurbished or reused from various distilleries around Scotland. The mill used for the malted barley came from Craigellachie in the Highlands which after being refurbished works as good as new. The still came from the mothballed Ben Wyvis Distillery which was where McHardy had worked over 3 decades prior.

The still was modified to provide the spirit that McHardy was after with an upwardly sloping lye arm that allowed for reflux and a lighter and brighter form of finished spirit. When the distillery began its first distillation run in March of 2004, it was the first “new” distillery in Campbeltown in 125 years. For a fantastic Scottish brogue delivered in a somewhat wooden style, this 6ish minute overview of Kilkerran production is worth a watch . After a period of No Age Statements, in 2016 Kilkerran first launched their calling card 12 years old, It is non-chill filtered and no coloring has been added to it- same as with other Springbank products. While we have seen a variety of barrels used for Kilkerran, the 12 year old is assembled from 70% Ex-Bourbon and 30% Ex-Sherry casks. Michael Kennel, D&M