Kilkerran Heavily Peated ‘Peat in Progress’ Batches 4 & 5

The Kilkerran Heavily Peated range has been something of an outlier in recent whisky history, a solid, core range product that is good value and is offered at cask strength. Prices have of course risen a little with time but as I continue my throwback to bottles long since retired from my collection I still find the value proposition of the Heavily Peated range something of a marvel.

Sure these are young peated whiskies, somewhere between 3 to 5 years old, but they have led the groundwork for Springbank to offer the 5 year old 100 proof as a core range product which itself is retailing for around £48-52 per bottle according to the Springbank website.

When 3-5 year old Irish whiskies at cask strength are routinely being sold for £100 and upwards then these Kilkerrans and young Springbanks present themselves as absolute bargains. Will they be super complex? Probably not. Will they put a smile on your face? I think so!

I currently have batches 6 to 10 in my Florida whisky lair and have batches 11 & 12 on their way to me. I'll probably be bringing these batches to my YouTube channel.

Interestingly the Heavily Peated range seems to be destined to remain a no age statement product, which is fine to me. Young Kilkerran has so far been a solid peated choice and much better than some of the traditional peated 'big hitters' from Islay. I have listed these two batches as 84 ppm for the phenol level which is what batches 1-3 were peated too but there is some discussion that from batches 4 on there were peated to 45 ppm.

As ever these bottles are non chill filtered and natural colour and I bought them from Fairley's Wines in Coleraine.

Kilkerran HP Peat in Progress Batch 4 58.6% (£45)

2020: 80% bourbon/20% sherry – 84 ppm

Nose: We’re back with the Werther’s Originals, all butter danish biscuits, crème fraiche, honey, vanilla and citrus oils. Sweet malt and bright peat smoke. Sea salt and hay. Water brings out some minerality and chamomile tea.

Palate: Syrup and sugary on arrival but the mouthfeel feels strangely thinner than previous releases. Quite spicy too with chilli pepper heat, clove and slated lemon and lime slices. Green apple and vanilla. Plenty of autumnal bonfire smoke. Water induces more smoke as well as toffee notes and some sweet black coffee.

Finish: Short with the peat dominating alongside the chilli heat and drying oak.

Score: 5 out of 10

Overall: An okay dram but a regression on Batch 3. More smoke, more bite, more heat. The nose again was very good but the palate was disjointed. As ever in the world of Campbeltown, inconsistency is king…..but I don’t mind that one bit. Here’s hoping batch 5 picks up the pace.

Kilkerran HP Peat in Progress Batch 5 57.7% (£45)

Aug 2020: 85% bourbon/15% sherry – 84 ppm

Nose: A nice combination of orchard & tropical fruit, savoury notes and peat. Apples & pineapple, peach, almond oil, smoked bacon lardons and lemon zest. A sherbet like effervescence to the nose too. Sea salt, coal smoke and driftwood. No alcohol punch at all. Water enhances the peat aspect as well as a creamy custard note.

Palate: A decent texture to this, quite oily and also quite peppery on arrival. Salted lemons, soot, smoked bacon, dry hay, cream, vanilla, golden syrup plus tinned peaches and pineapple chunks. Some cinnamon mixed in too along with flinty minerality. With water it’s still peppery but with a little more sweetness dialled in.

Finish: Medium length with the flint, soot and pepper lingering longest.

Score: 6 out of 10

Overall: Solid again but not massively divergent from previous batches. I’m still leaning in to batches 1 & 3 as my personal favourites so far.

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