Kilkerran 8 CS Batch 8

Review by: Raygun

A group of us put together a little homemade Advent calendar. Been a while since Christmas, but life happens. I’m now posting a few reviews from that collection. Kilkerran is of course from Glengyle, the other Campbeltown distillery revived by J & A Mitchell, owners of Springbank and Cadenhead’s. They bought and renovated Glengyle in 2000, and it started producing again in 2004. They mostly do a lightly peated style, but in 2019 started releasing a heavily peated style. The 8 CS was one of their first regular products, first released back in 2017. Reviewed fully blind from a sample. Rested about 15 minutes.

Distillery: Kilkerran   

Bottler: Kilkerran 

Region/style: Campbeltown single malt whisky

ABV: 55.8%. Cask strength.   

Age: Eight years. Released in 2022. 

Cask type: Bourbon cask

Color: 0.5 yellow gold. Natural color and non-chill-filtered.

Nose: Fruity and floral, in a way that’s somewhat like Armagnac. Definite richness to it. Sprinkle of cardamom.  

Palate: This has got an extra gear to it. Beautifully floral, sweet, and spicy. Cardamom and a touch of white pepper. Vanilla cake. Very rich on the tongue, balanced with a lot of woody influence.     

Finish: Lots of oak. Cardamom vanilla cake. Floral again. Pretty intense, but also very drinkable.    

Conclusion: Fantastic. Very rich and cake-like, but it pulls off that style well. Didn’t notice any peat in this, but that’s not surprising. I’m not so peat sensitive, and so something like the 8-10ppm of Kilkerran usually goes right past me. Pegged it as older, as it seemed to be pretty oaky. Regardless, it’s very good. I think the last 8 CS I tried was batch 2, and I feel they’ve improved since then. This is long gone I’m sure, but next time they do a bourbon cask release I’d try to grab one.

Score: 86

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky. (Convalmore 36)
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category. (Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1)
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram. (Ledaig 13 Amontillado)
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff. (Tomatin 18)
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting. (Glen Scotia 15)
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better. (Aultmore 12)
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink. (Glenmorangie 10)
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing. (Old Pulteney 12)
  • 0-49: Blech. (Muirhead’s Silver Seal 16)

Published by Raygun

Unknown's avatar

I drank Scotch occasionally (mostly at family gatherings) for years, but started getting more interested after an introduction and tasting from a Scottish acquaintance. That led to buying my first bottle (Highland Park 12). Now 600+ spirits later, Scotch is still my first love, but I drink other whisky and dabble in brandy as well.

Leave a comment