Review #450 - Kilkerran 8 Year Cask Strength - Sherry Cask Matured (2023)
Hailing from Glengyle distillery, the Kilkerran brand generally releases their 8 year old cask strength single malt once per year, though occasionally we've seen two batches in the same year. One of the more recent batches, #9, arrived in early 2023 - it was bottled in January.
The cask choice for this batch was sherry casks. We don't get much more information than that - we're not sure if it's first fill or refill, and we're not sure about the type of sherry. Often, Glengyle will use first fill Oloroso sherry casks, but for this batch, they gave no such designation. The bottling strength is 57.5% ABV, which is on the higher end of the 10 batches to date.
Kilkerran 8 Year Cask Strength - Sherry Cask Matured (2023)
Scotland/Campbeltown - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 149 (2024)
Age Statement: 8 Years
Strength: 57.5% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-sherry casks
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; batch #9, bottled January 2023
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle 90% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Musty and very vegetal, funky and earthy. A bit more challenging than some of the other Kilkerran 8 CS batch noses; there's a dark, rich influence from the cask, which adds sour orange fruit and char.
Palate: A medium mouthfeel, maybe a little more; very dirty and earthy. There are vegetal accents, minerality, and a strong youthful spirity note; it's a bit raw, but strongly flavored and interesting. Oranges and strawberry add sharp fruit, and there's some wood smoke mingling with peat smoke.
Finish: Medium length - the peat, which built in the palate, lingers into the finish. A mix of sweet and sour orange fruit, lots of wood smoke, bruleed sugar... in the aftertaste, more earthy tones.
Final Note: While all of the batches of Kilkerran's 8 year cask strength show some signs of spirity, youthful vigor, it was a bit more intense for us in this batch - this needed a lot of time to open up and develop. The fruit flavors from the sherry casks seemed a bit more reserved, leaving more space for the funky, earthy, smoky notes from the base spirit to shine through.
Value on these Kilkerran 8 year bottles in the US is sometimes a bit below average, as they're in high demand and therefore command a higher price; that's the case here.
Our Average Rating: 6.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 4.53
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
