Whisky: Kilkerran 8 Year Cask Strength 2022 Edition

Country/Region: Scotland/Campbeltown

ABV: 55.8%

Cask: Bourbon

Age: 8 Years (Bottled 28 Nov. 2022)

Nose: Citrusy, malty pastries, herbal, burning grass, resin, earth and dried grass, sun-baked wood.

Palate: Medium-bodied, earthy, dried grass, wispy smoke, herbal and resinous, charred wood.

Finish: Medium-length and slightly drying with earth, orange, and herbal candies.

Score: 6-7 (80)

Mental Image: Thursday Afternoon Youth Soccer Practice

Narrative & Notes: Orange butter cakes and herbal candies wafted out of the glass with a touch of burning grass— butterscotch, mint, tangerine, horehound hard candies spilled from a leather handbag in a hurry to grab the fire extinguisher. Herbal and touch resinous with fresh rosemary, pine, and spruce tips in simple syrup. Earth and dried grass lingered in the background, with wooden bleachers along a sun-scorched youth soccer field. Medium-bodied with more dusty earth and hay coming through ahead of wispy smoke, herbal candies, and woodsy resins. Fiddles and hay bales with a touch of barnyard funk developed as white smoke and charred wood lingered in the background— was it a call to barnstorm or a fiddle face-off with the devil? The finish was medium-length and a touch drying with earth, oranges, and herbal candies.

In the words of Blackpink’s Jisoo, “Not bad, but not good,” which we could amend to “not great,” as this whisky did enough to skooch into the realm of being pretty good. The flavors were uncomplicated but well-presented and integrated, if not always as distinct and fully formed as I wanted. Eight years surely sounds a bit young, but this was well-balanced, with only a little bit of spirited pepper showing through on the back end and the finish.

Overall, a lovely whisky and an appreciated diversion from the wine and sherry cask Kilkerran I have had in my glass lately. I still think the heavily peated malt from Kilkerran does some of the same things as this, but with greater clarity and richness, so I gravitate toward those products.