Time to slowly move upwards in this series about teenage whiskies, after a row of 15-year-olds ending with last week’s Benromach 15. I could have gone on, but this series is going to be pretty long as it is. Plenty of opportunities in the future to try some more of those remaining 15s. Instead, today I take a little step up, just a single year extra, to review the Kilkerran 16.
Disclaimer: The title of this series of reviews in no way encourages underage drinking; it is a tribute to the Undertones and their famous hit, “Teenage Kicks,” one of the best songs to come out of the UK punk scene.
TL:DR: As close to a perfect core line-up up whisky as there could be
Score*: 9, Exceptional.
For once, I’ll skip the long introduction and go (almost) straight to the review. I spoke about Glengyle before, and I make no secret that this is one of my favourite distilleries. After visiting the distillery and attending their warehouse tasting a few months back, that admiration has only increased. So feel free to take this with a pinch of salt, there is a bit of bias for sure… but just a bit. The liquid Glengyle bottles is up there with the best.
Kilkerran 16 year old
Specs
Price paid: €90
Lot: 22/124
ABV: 46%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: 70% Ex-Bourbon, 30% Ex-Sherry
Tasting Notes
Colour: A bright, warm gold.
Nose: Intense and bright, the age is noticeable, especially when tasted side by side vs the 12-year-old. At first fruity, maritime and with a bit of funk. Peaches, a hint of pineapple, a fresh sea breeze, vanilla, and a subtle note that reminds me of drying watercolour paint. I know there is some peat, but I am really struggling to detect any. Then a turn towards floral perfume and citrus: white flowers, salt-preserved lemons and tangerine. A hint of white pepper, candied ginger, and a touch of cinnamon. The Sherry influence brings a general pastry shop aroma rather than the specific aromas I would associate with a first-fill cask Oloroso. Maybe second-fill casks, or is it just the effect of age?
Taste & Finish: Rich, warming and… yes, I’ll use the forbidden S word: smooth. Malty, maritime, and more noticeably sherried than on the nose. Grain, mated biscuits, a noticeable salinity, then a bouquet of Sherry notes. Nuts, figs, dried apples, ginger, cinnamon, a touch of cocoa. The funk is milder but runs through the whole drinking experience, from the first to the last drop, with a wet wool note. There is even some citrus, reminding me of candied lemon.
The finish is warming and a little drying, long. Very long. Finally, I get a little peat, dried fruits, a touch of spice, some sea breeze and a slightly funky close.
Score*: 9, Exceptional
When I started this blog (seems ages ago), I thought long about which scoring system to use. I dislike the 100-point system used commonly because, in practice, it is a 20-point scale in the hands of 99% of the reviewers out there. You will hardly ever see a score below 80. There are exceptions, like Serge’s Whisky Fun, but even there, the low scores below 70 are rare and used mostly for entertainment value and ridicule. Instead, from day 1, I picked Dramface’s rating of 1-10, assigning clear meanings to each score. Sure, I modified it a bit to add half points because I am, frankly, an indecisive and insecure reviewer. I wanted a little flexibility to highlight “almost there” whiskies.
Over the almost two years of reviews, my scores have ranged from 4 to 8.5. Most of my scores are between 6 and 7, good to very good. The lack of very low scores and the relatively high average betray that I do not review bottles at random but pick what I am curious about. And what my fellow whisky friends suggest, and those suggestions rarely disappoint. (Maybe at some point I should try some cheap supermarket blends for shock value… or a positive surprise.) As the months passed, I started doubting I would score anything higher than an 8. A couple of whiskies reached 8.5 (both Cask Strength expressions, a Benromach and, surprise, surprise, a Kilkerran). But I was losing hope of ever going beyond that. Until today.
Yes, this Kilkerran 16 is an exceptional dram. Not because of a unique character or something exceptionally striking in its character, but rather for the opposite. To me, this whisky oozes elegance, balance and restrained power. Just like in Goldilocks’ fairy tale, this is the “just right” option. Just enough funk, just enough fruitiness, just enough age, and so on. Nothing is overbearing, and everything works to create a fantastic, organic ‘whole’. And, as someone who usually loves whiskies with a bit of an edge, that is saying something.
So hats off, Glengyle, and hats off to this Kilkerran 16 for reaching that score of nine after this review. I never thought I would hand out. Now, if I could only find a perfect “10”…
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points.
Interested in my take on a specific whisky style? Check the full Journey here and jump to the relevant Chapter.
After writing my tasting notes, I always find it interesting to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of the Kilkerran 16 I enjoyed:
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Apologies if I’ve made this comment before. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I received many years ago as a new academic was “You’ve got a range of 100 marks to award. Use them all.” I love Whisky Fun, but the compression of virtually all their ratings into an 18 point range (75 – 93) does no favors for their readership. It implies there’s not really all that much difference between an ordinary NAS straight malt and a stellar 20 year-old cask strength, which is ridiculous.
Hi Ken, thanks for the comment. fully agree with the advice you received, a scale should be used in full. Having said that, I just want to highlight that I didn’t want to single Whisky Fun out, as they actually do a better job, at least in terms of using that scale, than most. It is a more general issue I have with scoring, and not one limited to whisky.