I absolutely loved the Kilkerran 12 year that I tried recently, and my friend Rob graciously donated this sample of the Kilkerran 8 year cask strength. Kilkerran is, of course, a sister distillery of the venerated Springbank distillery. 56.5% ABV, natural color, no chill filtering. How is it, you ask? Let's find out...
Springbank is a particular favorite of Scotch lovers, and is regarded to have some of the highest standards in the business. So I'm quite jazzed to try this sample of the cask strength 12 year.
Of the first three bottles I purchased from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), this was the one I was the most curious about. I'd had Ardmore, I'd had Dailuaine, but I'd never had Auchroisk. This bottle was subtitled "Adventurous African Safari," which is highly colorful and perhaps mildly suggestive of flavors to come. It was aged 5 years in ex-bourbon casks, then another 2 years in a 2nd fill red wine barrique. Bottled at a healthy 62% ABV, it's not colored or filtered.
The Arran has rebranded a couple times over the years, but this sample came from an older ~2013 bottling. The Arran is an island malt, with the Isle of Arran lying just off Campbeltown, and this particular bottle is aged 10 years in mystery casks, comes in at 46% ABV (nice!), is neither chill filtered nor colored.
Deanston Virgin Oak is an interesting idea on paper. Take some young spirit, and age it in totally virgin oak - never yet held bourbon OR sherry, nor wine or anything else. Just new American oak. But how does it actually fare? No age statement, 46.3% ABV, presumably no chill filtering or coloring.
I recently joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) - trying to be a bit more adventurous and social in my tasting journey - and this was the bottle I chose as my joining gift. The SMWS has a somewhat idiosyncratic way of labeling their bottles, using a cask code instead of stating the distillery. However, there are multiple websites that "decode" these numbers, which is how I learned that cask code 66 equals Ardmore - my beloved Ardmore. I jumped all over it.
Another interesting independent bottle, this time from Diageo blend monster Dailuaine ("Green valley"), which is traditionally blended into Johnnie Walker. This time it's aged 12 years in a hogshead, bottled at 46% with no filtering and no coloring (indeed, it's a beautiful light straw color). What flavors?
In 2015, Tomatin rebranded itself - but this bottle of 12 year Highland scotch, matured in sherry casks, comes from before the change. 43% ABV, chill-filtered, and colored.
I am going through an independent bottling phase, and the latest dram to cross my path is this delicious 11 year expression of Clynelish (the official bottling is 14 years). While I found the Edradour fractionally better than the official offering, this is the first independent bottle I have thought was definitively superior to the official one. Aged 11 years in a bourbon barrel, bottled at 46% without filtering or coloring, this is delectable stuff:
This used to be called "Longrow C.V.." which is how I first had it. Now, with new packaging but - presumably - the same great taste, we have Longrow Peated - the heavily peated entry from the Springbank distillery. Distilled 2.7x times, aged for an indeterminate time in ex-bourbon barrels, bottled at 46%, no chill filtering or coloring... let's see if it's as good as I remember.
