Kilkerran 8-Year Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Review & Tasting Notes

William Mitchell and his brother John were co-owners of the Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown. The brothers, who, like many distillers at the time, were also farmers, and there was some sort of riff between them about sheep. William packed his bags, and in 1872, he opened his own distillery some 300 feet away from Springbank! He called it Glengyle Distillery.

 

A year later, a storm rolled through and destroyed the roof of Glengyle. Repairs were made, and production continued.

 

Something you should know about Campbeltown is that it was once home to 32 operating distilleries (and about an equal number of illicit ones). It was thriving until the end of World War I, when the region’s economy tanked. In 1919, less than two years after the armistice, Glengyle was sold at auction. It was auctioned off again in 1923 and yet again in 1924. In 1925, the owners threw in the towel, and the distillery was shuttered. They sold off all the remaining stocks.

 

There were a handful of attempts to resurrect Glengyle. One was by Maurice Bloch, the owner of Glen Scotia. Then World War II happened, and those plans fell by the wayside. The second was by Campbell Henderson Ltd. in the 1950s. That, too, was abandoned.

 

By 2000, only two distilleries remained in Campbeltown: Glen Scotia and Springbank. In the late 1990s, the Scotch Whisky Association mapped out whisky-making regions to codify into EU law. Those regions were Highland, Islay, Lowland, and Speyside. There was no mention of Campbeltown, and this is where the story gets fun.

 

Hedley Wright owned Springbank, one of the two remaining distilleries. He was a direct descendant of the Mitchells, the original owners of Glengyle. He petitioned the Scotch Whisky Association to include Campbeltown, and they refused, citing that two distilleries does not a whiskymaking region make. And this is where my smartass personality falls in love with Hedley.

 

The Lowland region only had three working distilleries. Hedley reasoned that if two distilleries didn’t make a region but three did, then Campbeltown would have a third distillery. He reopened Glengyle, which took the wind out of the Scotch Whisky Association’s sails, and they were forced to accept Campbeltown as a whisky-making region. By 2004, Glengyle was once again producing distillate.

 

The Mitchell Glengyle Distillery released its first whiskies in 2014. However, it doesn’t market them under the Glengyle name because it is owned by Loch Lomond Distillers. Instead, the distillery’s brand is Kilkerran, the Scottish name for where Campbeltown exists.

 

Today, I’m exploring Kilkerran 8-Year Old Sherry Cask, a cask-strength, single malt Scotch whisky. Like any other single malt Scotch, it is distilled from 100% malted barley. Glengyle did use peat to dry the malt, and after distillation, it aged in former Oloroso sherry casks for (you guessed it) at least eight years. Non-chill filtered and naturally colored, it is packaged at 57.5% ABV (115°), and a 700ml averages about $100.00.

 

A friend was kind enough to provide me with a sample of this whisky. Let’s #DrinkCurious and discover what it is all about.

 

Appearance: I poured this Scotch into a Glencairn glass to sip neat. The whisky was an almost murky, dark golden color. It created a thin rim with fast, pronounced tears.

 

Nose: There was a saltiness to the aroma. Beneath it were nuts, earth, light peat, orange citrus, and pipe tobacco. When I inhaled the vapor into my mouth, I identified rich sherry notes.

 

Palate: On my first sip, the texture was rich and silky. It became a touch oily on the second. While concentrating on that, a mix of earth and peat seemed to coat my palate. There was an addition of leather to complete the front. At my mid-palate, I tasted tobacco, dried apricots, and saline. The back consisted of roasted almonds, cherries, and mocha.

 

Finish: Things started slow and slowly ramped up, eventually reminding me that this was cask-strength whisky. Per my stopwatch, it ran 2:35, throwing it in that Energizer Bunny category. Leather, earth, peat, mocha, and black pepper flavors remained.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: First of all, I have always enjoyed Campbeltown whiskies. If you’ve never tried one, you should fix that. They’re unique, and it would have been stupid for the Scotch Whisky Association to ignore Campbeltown in its own separate region. They aren’t anything like Highland whiskies. They aren’t anything like Islay peat bombs.

 

Kilkerran 8-Year Sherry Cask sipped way under its stated proof until that finish rolled through. It still wasn’t hot, but it certainly grabbed my attention. I found the entire experience, from the nosing to finish, captivating.

 

Would I spend $100 on this? Definitely. I'd go about $20 beyond that point at the ceiling. If you find it for $100 or less, grab a Bottle. Cheers!

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit but begs you to do so responsibly.