Kilkerran 12 Year Old

Nice review @OdysseusUnbound! From memory I'd agree about the water as well. Seems something all 'Springbanks' are prone to not taking too much water (or is that just me?).

I also wonder if @Nozinan's sample had possibly got a bit too much air/movement and that had affected it?

Interesting that you say it's not cheap for a 12 YO - it's priced very well here and significantly cheaper than Springbank. I definitely preferred the first 1/2 of my bottle - it seems to have lost some freshness and zip as I've drunk it down (without being gassed). I love some of the descriptors from the review by @RianC "coal smeared lemons" and "like licking a lathe that's had lemons smeared on it". I think my bottle has tasted more industrial (like a machine room) as it's aged. I think it's a fantastic whisky that offers a lot for the price (here).

@Hewie It’s $95 CAD here, whereas a typical range for an entry-level offering is $60-$80. Now THE Macallan and THE Dalmore charge $100 for their 12 year old offerings (Double Cask in THE Macallan’s case) and I think Kilkerran 12 beats the pants off the two aforementioned whiskies. I will gas my next bottle to see if it keeps more of that beautiful waxiness. Either way, I was impressed...with the whisky, not so much the price.

@OdysseusUnbound nice review, I really liked the first batch of this when it was released, I had it tied with Ben10 as chameleon malt. I didn't get a chance to buy a bottle at the time, it sold out rather fast at around 75$ which in hindsight was reasonable.

Would you say you prefer Springbank 10 over this?

@cricklewood I’d choose Springbank 10. It’s a bit bigger and bolder than Killerran 12. Lucky for me, I can have both!!!

@OdysseusUnbound aoch. I feel for you. It's $60 CAD in London

@OdysseusUnbound, I agree: Kilkerran 12 is a fine whisky, but Springbank 10 is better.

Have you had the 8 CS? I believe you like some high-octane drams, so you should give it a whirl if you get a chance. As long as the 12 and the 8 CS are Kilkerran's options, all my money will be going to the 8 CS.

@MadSingleMalt Lucky for me, a friend sent along a generous (50ml) sample of the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength. Looking forward to trying it.

Hmm...Am I the only one who actually prefers the Kilkerran 12 over the Springbank 10? They are both phenomenal and the best drams at their respective pricepoint for me; akin to 1a and 1b. They both are unmistakenly from the same family tree as well but the K12 just hits on something unexplainable for me. There is so much going on and it changes with each dram poured from the bottle. The SB10 seems a tad artificially sweet compared to it (Don't overblow this statement, however).

I also prefer the K12 over the K8CS. I'm on my 4th bottle of K12 and saving one bottle of the 1st release for years down the road if I get there. While I did like it, I wasn't that blown away with the K8CS bottle that I had (1st release) but am eager to buy another bottle and it give'er another whirl.

I'd say that the K12 is my favorite single malt under $90, where at that point the crown goes to the mighty SB12CS.

For me SB 10 is cheaper, better and good to the last drop. I've had two K12s and I agree with @OdysseusUnbound that it doesn't hold up as well to extended storage after opening. It needs to be knocked off fairly quickly as opposed to sitting for several months half empty.

SB 10 over Kilkerran 12 all day for me but they are both quality malts I'd be more than happy to have on a desert Island. Were I only able to buy those two whiskys I'd probably buy the SB 3:1.

I'm also surprised that you Canadians get Kk at higher prices than SB - certainly doesn't seem the norm although there's only about a £5 difference here in the UK. What surprises me most here about Kk is just how cheap they put it out at. Big kudos to the Mitchell's for that!

A quick MoM check has Kk 12 at £33.90 - that's superb value right there.

@RianC We can only wish for prices like that here. I wonder how the Brexit fiasco will affect prices for you Brits. They may go down if the Europeans inflict some tariffs on whisky imports and more product stays at home. Slightly iffy logic there, but who knows.

@BlueNote - Aye, I'm the first to whinge about the price of whisky but there are still some great deals about for UK bound folk.

As for Brexit . . . I'm not even sure God knows what's going on there I'd like to think that we'd see some ££ benefits as they're home grown products but, well, it will be interesting. I'd imagine if we end up with the 'Canada (WTO) option' exports are going to get very pricey.