In 2000, the owners of Springbank distillery bought their closed neighbour, Glengyle distillery. It was refurbished and production restarted in 2004 under a new name: Kilkerran (to avoid confusion with a brand of blended Highlands whisky called Glengyle).

This ‘Work in progress’ bottling gives us an insight of their new whisky style after 4 to 5 years of maturation.

Kilkerran ‘Work in progress’
(46%, OB 2009)

Nose: flinty and green. Dried grass, wet limestone, green lemon and apples. Clean hints of grains. Modern austerity which is perhaps more inspired by the Highlands style than by Campbeltown. Gets more aromatic after a while. Mouth: quite thick and creamy. Waxy notes, almonds. Lots of grains. Again quite some ‘green’ notes (grass, unripe fruit) and bitter notes (tonic, ginger). I miss a soft, sweeter side to counterbalance, to me it seems quite harsh and zesty. Finish: grassy with more smoke. The gingery bitterness is still there.

Not bad at all for a young whisky, well made but not really my type of dram. Around € 45 but the limited yield of 12.000 bottles is probably gone by now.

Score: 82/100