Twelve long years ago I had just finished school and started my mandatory military service. But twelve years ago, in the “wee toon” of Campbeltown, a miracle happened: A new distillery was born. The owners of Springbank distillery decided to revive the old buildings of the Glengyle distillery, and industry legend Frank McHardy was given the order to carry out the task. And now, in fall of 2016 we can finally taste the first “finished” product after a series of “Work in progress” bottlings, the last of which were truly spectacular, especially last year’s bourbon matured release. Needless to say, expectations are very high but I’m sure we won’t be disappointed!

Tasting notes:
Colour: gold
The nose is exactly as I expected it to be! Just like the last bottlings, this redefines a light spirit character. This is everything but a modern in-your-face whisky. This is a style almost lost in today’s wood-driven, over-finished marketplace. But how is it? Well, there’s a very light amount of peat (the malt is produced to Springbank style specification) mixed with light fruits, Campbeltown salt notes and a slight mineral note. Very elegant. We’ve got tinned tangerines, apricots, white peaches, sweet grapes, pears, apple peelings and the tiniest pinch of oriental spices. All of those fruits are served next to freshly ground chalk stones on the Campbeltown pier with the smoke from a distant peat fire drifting by. Very well put together, everything is so much more than the sum of its parts. Oh, and did I mention it keeping a light and delicate, yet never fragile profile? No marketing department would order something like that, they’d have it smothered under extreme sherry cask pressure… With water: Slightly rounder and more light fruits. Continue reading “Tasting: Kilkerran 12 yo (Inaugural release)”