Kilkerran Heavily Peated

Wonderful aroma and good taste, as for such a young age. The only thing is that it is very "hot" without water. You need a couple of drops

Earthy, malty, herbaceous, nutty, mineralic and fruity, with a pleasantly ashy backdrop. Wonderfully balanced, and very delicious.

Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch 6 was my summer discovery, today I tasted Batch 7 and I must admit that it is a bit weaker than its predecessor. Despite everything, I still think that it is an interesting whisky with a lot of citrus fruits, wet peat, but also too much pepper and sharpness for me. Water drop... Aroma: more sweetness, peat is not so dominant, still a lot of pine needles and lemon notes, there was yeast dough. Taste: sweeter, vanilla, grapefruit, lemon peel, blood orange, delicate salty sea breeze. "+" Finish: also long, less bitter slightly spicy, lemon zest and grapefruit notes again. "+"

Springbank Tasting with Fiona McFadyen: 2023.04.03. Hazelburn 10yo 22/163 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/221464/hazelburn-10-year-old 87+ Springbank 15yo 22/188 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/221465/springbank-15-year-old 89- Longrow Peated 22/165 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/220339/longrow-peated 86- Springbank 10yo Sherry Wood - PX https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/215605/springbank-10-year-old 87+ Longrow 11yo RED Tawny Port https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/215352/longrow-11-year-old 88+ Kilkerran Heavily Peated: Peat in Progress - Batch 7 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/220963/kilkerran-heavily-peated 85+

Compared to the Kilkerran 7 Cadenhead's, I preferred the CA in this case, especially on the nose.

87.50 Nose: delicate smoke at the beginning, barely perceptible, vanilla, clearly perceptible wax, citruses, fruits, yellow fruits, honey, apples, even some pineapple and peach, marine, slightly pleasantly salty. Taste: creamy, vanilla, butter cookies, citrus, exotic fruits, lots of pleasant smoky climate, sea salt, a bit of ash, Finish: Medium long, sweet, smoky, salty, citrus, slightly dry, warming, chili, marine

A bit lighter in colour compared to the batch 6 edition. More fruity, probably a different mix of casks, more bourbon influences over the sherry casks. The peat shines beautifully. At around 5 years of age, this is very impressive.

Plasticine! Kilkerran's Heavily Peated range uses a malt with a ppm content of 85. That's quite worth it, isn't it! Until now I had only tasted Batch 4, but thanks to my friend Benny VDB I can now also taste Batch 7 and Batch 8. It almost goes without saying that I taste them head-to-head, right? We'll start with Batch 7, which appeared on the market a year ago. It was formulated with 90% bourbon-matured and 10% sherry-matured Kilkerran. Nice and peaty, of course, but at the same time old school with notes of white fruit and lime, wet earth, hay, vanilla and something that reminds me of a sheep stable and rosemary. But also a toast with acacia honey. Autumn leaves after a heavy rain shower. Overripe pears. Plasticine! This is surprisingly good for such a young animal (because the malt is about 5 years old). Nicely oily and immediately earthy, peaty and quite peppery. The white fruit returns, but is nicely supplemented with slightly bitter notes of grapefruit. Even a salty edge and a pinch of mustard. Relatively maritime, even. This is particularly tasty. In the finish, which is medium long, the peat smoke comes into its own. No medicinal notes like on Islay, but the typical Campbeltown peat with its sweet and sour, mineral and herbal qualities. That's really an old school gem, wow. Thanks, Benny. P.S. It tolerates water very well!

Shines through sheer power. And yet the question remains, how will it taste when it ages properly?

Really decent stuff, wasn't sure I should buy one after having spent too much on bottles lately, but now I'm really happy I did. That will show me. I'll write a review once further through down the bottle, but very happy so far.

The beauty of this Kilkerran Heavily Peated: no batch is like the other, and the differences are sometimes even immense, which will be due to the increasing age of the distillate and the choice of casks. The first two batches each came with a 55:45 bourbon/sherry cask ratio, batch #3 and #4 at 80:20. The smoky batch #5 had the largest participation of ex-bourbon casks to date with 85:15, the caramel batch #6 had more sherry casks again with 75:25. Batch #7 settles qualitatively between batch #5 and batch #6: less smoke than batch #5, less caramel than batch #6, stronger attack on the tongue than batch #6, but not nearly as strong as batch #5 , although Batch #5 with 57.7% shouldn't come across as strong as Batch #7, at least on paper. Batch #6 was 89/100 for me at the beginning of the bottle, I had assumed that the 90 would be cracked with increasing "bottle maturation". Was like that. Batch #5 confirmed his/my 87/100 consistently, Batch #7 is right in between for me, so: 88/100

Not very mature, but with a spirit like this that still results in a really good whisky. It's a more fruity batch and clearly less sherried than the previous ones: It doesn't have the buttery / fudgy notes from those.

Cocoa with grated chocolate, earthy peat, metallic smoke with notes of vanilla, flower pollen, caramel, heavy, slightly dirty, bitter chocolate with spices and citrus, salted caramel, cream. The finish is long, warming. 22-22-22-22

I’ll say it as simply as possible, it’s very tasty)) you can’t feel the heat

Kilkerran Peat in Progress - Batch 7, NC NCF 59.1% CS NAS I rested this for a while since it was a bit closed. This was the first pour of the bottle. Great value at MSRP, but it rarely goes for that anymore where I am.

If you like peat, you´ll love it. If you don´t like peat, stay away from it. If you find Islay peat a little bit dull, this´ll be a positive surprise for you, a change of scenery. Campbeltown peat is distinctive from Islay or Highland or other peat. It´s like eating smoked cheese on board of steam train, a great experience for me. Recommended, even if it´s a little expensive for NAS single malt.

a quick revisit

Bold heavily peated version

Young, creamy, salty, peaty and very pleasant nose. The taste adds a pleasant licorice, quite a good body, very pleasant peat with notes of seaweed, smoked meat and ash I had no expectations, but it hit me right in the heart.

Nose-87; Taste-87; Finish-87.

Youthful and energetic, yet remarkably composed for nearly 60% ABV. The peat is smoldering and sooty rather than medicinal, balancing rich fruit and coastal oiliness. A dram that rewards patience and a splash of water.

Got 3x 10cl finished in a Prosek Wine ( Dessert Wine from Dalmatia) by a private person

An evening filled with the first 1-7 Kilkeran Peated in a row, what a fun evening!

Absolutely the best cask strength heavily peated compared to quality/price. Very fine taste, peat comes gently and stays.

Tasty, but the high ratings are not entirely understandable.

Straightforward but really well put together. Typical earthy peat smoke with some hints of metal and plastic. Farmyard, lemon, vanilla, honey, hint of barn and dung. Extra points for the high strength and superb creamy mouthfeel. Medium length finish with some chalkiness.

Tasted on Wed 17th Jan 2024 as part of an in-person Royal Mile Whiskies/Drinkmonger 7-dram vertical Springbank tasting (https://www.drinkmonger.com/springbank-tasting/). Colour: Bright lemon gold.

after sitting in the glass for two hours to open up, with a few drops of water: the taste explodes in classic Bourbon cask fashion. really love it. The finish is a bit thin for me personally. Definitely worth the buck.

Colour gold Great whisky!

this batch is better than the previous ones, progress is visible)))

Compared to batch 3 and 6 tasted. Clearly the winner. Intense, unironed and still pleasant to drink.

Straw color. Light oiliness.

All round good malt drinks softer than the 59% abv, not a big peat hitter, a good nose with a good long finish, Please give it 20 mins or more you will be rewarded. With a small drop of water it loses a lot of the spice.

A good entry level. Not very complex but excellent value for money

The nose is youthful with lots of earthy peat, and the palate is hot and aggressive, water is needed. combines this with chalk, seaweed and some green apples. You really need to add lot of water is to tame the aggressive youthfulness of the spirit, and I never managed to do this. This is already good whisky only held back by its young age - I look forward to trying this when it hits 12 years.

03.04.2023. Springbank tasting with Fiona McFadyen in Budapest

I love this peat monster. except its sweet like candy

I really love Kilkerran, but this whisky has mamy flaws: too much pepper, alcohol it lacks of balance and is very nasty and young in general. I don't know where does this hight rating come from, but for me, 81 is the highest rating possible for this bottle However, with water it works much smooth and deserves around 84 points. It's still has Kilkerran DNA, perfect wet peat, citrus, minerals, etc., but it is not enough to enjoy it in the right way.

Very bright, straw color. Oily whisky.