Kilkerran 12 Year Old Single Malt Review

Kilkerran played in interesting part in the regionality of Scotch whisky. Once known as ‘the whisky capital of the world’ as it was home to over 30 distilleries by the late 1990’s there were only two left, Glen Scotia and Springbank. As such by the early 2000’s the SWA were considering revoke Campbeltown’s status as an official Scotch whisky region.

Step in the owner of Springbank distillery, Hedley Wright. Mr Wright pointed out that the Lowland region only had 3 distilleries and asked that if Campbeltown had 3 distilleries could it keep it’s status? Logic prevailed and the answer was yes. So Mr Wright bought the old, mothballed Glengyle distillery with the Mitchell’s Glengyle company and spent the next four years repairing and restoring the distillery. The stills came from the mothballed Ben Wyvis distillery and were refurbished by then production director Frank McHardy to produce a lighter, fruity style that Kilkerran have become famous for.

Production began in 2004 and by 2007 they launched their first whisky at 3 years old. 2009 saw the release of their 1st Work in Progress releases, of which to there were 7 releases that led up to the first 12 year old release in 2016 which became their core expression from then on.

The entire whisky production process at Glengyle is very much hands on, just like Springbank....no computers here. The malt is peated to around 15ppm (so lightly peated), the fermentation takes between 72-110 hours (this equals flavour) and the spirit is double distilled.

You may also wonder why if the distillery is called Glengyle then why is the single malt known as Kilkerran? The original Glengyle distillery was built in 1872 but closed in 1925 and the name was acquired by the Loch Lomond group for their Glengyle vatted malt.

The Kilkerran name comes from the Gaelic of where Saint Kerran had his religious settlement and was the name of the area that Campbeltown now sits on.

I bought this bottle from Fairley's Wines in Coleraine.

Let’s Taste.

Kilkerran 12 Year Old Single Malt 46% abv

100% barley, bottle code 07.03.22 22/35, maturation: 70% bourbon / 30% sherry

Nose: Sooty, salty and with a touch of burnt rubber. Smoked german cheese that gives way to freshly sliced green apples, garden mint, lemon slices and salted cashews. A hint of copper and minerality with very light peat smoke.

Palate: A bit sweet & sour on arrival – ripe green apples, butterscotch, peach and orange slices that lead to buttermilk, lemon zest and grapefruit flesh. Dirty soot and the peat is more prominent than the nose. Ginger, sea salt, wet pebbles and vanilla. Eventually with time the sherried side brings some raisins, nuts and smoked paprika.

Finish: Medium in length with plenty of earthy peat smoke, salt, industrial dirt and a little bit of spice.

Score: 7 out of 10

Overall: Not the best of the Kilkerran 12 year olds I’ve been fortunate to try but it still maintains the high standards from the Glengyle Distillery. For me it’s still one of the best core range 12 year old Scotch whiskies you can buy and it has the added benefit of being generally more available than it’s Springbank cousins.

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