Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 4 (NAS)

 

I have enjoyed both expressions of Kilkerran that I've had previously - the 8 year and the 12 year - and tonight I am sampling the "heavily peated, batch 4" expression of their Peat-in-Progress series. 

Kilkerran is a product of one of the three remaining Campbeltown distilleries (Glengyle, which is owned by Springbank, another favorite distillery of mine). This is batch 4, no age expression (apparently is 5-6 years old), was bottled at 58.6% ABV, matured 80/20% in bourbon/sherry casks. Let's immediately dig into some young Campbeltown glory:

Nose: A truly unusual and fascinating nose that reminds me of cask strength bottlings of Glen Scotia that I've had - wild vanilla sweetness paired with fresh cut grass, fresh butter, coastal elements, and fresh medicinal gauze. 

Freshly baked sugar cookies; sweet peat; heavily floral. Also reminds me of Ardnamurchan. This is very sweet on the nose - like ripping open a bag of Domino's sugar from Baltimore after applying a fresh band-aid to a wound. It's strangely addictive - I can't stop smelling this - but it's odd. Quite odd. Like fresh antiseptic, almost. 

With water, the nose changes a bit, becomes less buttery and also a little drier - something like young leather. The sweet antiseptic note is still present, but recedes into the distance. A coastal brine emerges - like kelp and salt water. I actually prefer this with water - the overwhelming sweet peat of the unreduced nose is tempered with more interesting (to me) flavors. Those with a real sweet tooth, avoid the water. 

Mouthfeel: Medium, oily. 

Palate: Interesting - follows the nose mostly, which a ton of vanilla cake sweetness, malt bins, honey, and then at the end of the development a ton of peat and (very light) smoke and herbs. Cooked herbs for days - like rosemary, thyme, jalapeno, etc. This reminds me more and more of single cask Ardnamurchan. 

With water, it mirrors the reduced nose - leathery and coastal, with all the other flavors pushed back a bit, although faintly present. It's with water that I perhaps get some of the Campeltown funk here - an industrial oil note on the very back end as it moves into the finish. 

Finish: Peat, a reasonable amount of ashy smoke, herbs, flowers (lavender). When water is added, rock salt and oaky pepper. A pretty decent finish.  

Verdict: This is good - very good - but a little bit odd. If you don't plan on adding water, you have to be accustomed to sugar-cookie/antiseptic sweet peat to like this - it's a landslide of vanilla and herbal, medicinal sweetness. 

But with water, it reminds me much of a young Talisker - salty, briny, peppery, some sweet malt sugar, some honey, some smoke, some peat, but balanced together. All-in-all, it seems a pretty typical expression of the Campbeltown peated style, and is satisfying.