Kilkerran Work in Progress 3

Glengyle was founded in 2000 to offer a new lease on life on the old distillery that had been founded in 1872 and closed since the fifties of last century. The first cask was filled in 2004. On the 21st of May 2009 the first series of Kilkerran was released under the banner Work in Progress. By now, four WIP-bottlings have appeared. The first one had a white label, the second a grey one. This one has a green label, while the fourth has a yellow one. But I digress. Let us taste this third edition, which matured on bourbon casks for 7 years.

The nose is young with loads of malt, but also quite some apples and pears. Quite some brine and hints of peat. Pine cones! Light peppers.

It is nicely creamy on the palate. The white fruit seems to be served from a cardboard box, if you know what I mean. The pepper is louder, now. Ginger kicks in. Towards the end, a good dollop of vanilla and more peat than on the nose emerge. Yes, becomes spicier all the time. A twig of mint.

The finish is fairly long on pepper and something that reminds me of varnish.

This is not bad for a 7 Year Old. In five years time, this could be a winner. By the way, the name Kilkerran was chosen because the name Glengyle was already trademarked by Loch Lomond (they sold this at one point as a blend). Kilkerran is derived from the original name of the settlement where the distillery can be found today.

This latest Kilkerran is in our Campbeltown tasting. Score is an average of us all. Kilkerran is made at the recently "reimagined" Glengyle distillery opened by Springbank in 2004. The rights to name whisky Glengyle actually reside with Loch Lomond distillery, so the output of the new Glengyle is called Kilkerran. The name Kilkerran is derived from the Gaelic name for the original settlement formed by Saint Kerran. The Kilkerran whisky was first released as a five year old whisky as Work in Progress 1 in 2009. The work in progress 3 is the latest version released in 2011.

Dominic says:

Vegetable oil, paprika, and green salad on the nose, and green apple, big full pepper and spice on the palate. There's a hint of mint in here, some youthful barley, and certainly this isn't the finished article. But there's lots to be excited by and the peat, pepper and prickly pear make for a beautiful picture, albeit one not fully in focus

Pat says: Nose: Very light with faint peat. Quite salty. Piney. Dusty wood. Tropical fruit. Palate: Coconut. Smooth and rounded and lightly spiced at first with the wood spices and peat growing, but with a lovely fruity, creamy edge and wonderful hit of vanilla at the end.

Tony says: Nose: young barley, not much else for me. Taste: Surprisingly full and rounded in the mouth from the first hit. This fades and leaves a fairly gentle peatiness. Not particularly long