Kingsbarns 3 Year Old 2015 Dream to Dram

At the end of 2018 the long awaited first release from the Kingsbarns Distillery arrived. Dream to Dram, well done. And obviously we need to approach this single malt in context: young, first release, cut – so do not expect a belter, but an entry level malt from this new kid on the block. It is – luckily – also priced accordingly: a bottle will only set you back some 40 to 45 EUR.

Clearly very young on the nose. The new make is still discernable. Apart from that, I get a Lowland style nose with citrus, vanilla, freshly cut grass, flowers, peach and pineapple. Summer in the glass. Nice nose!

There is clearly some room for improvement on the palate. It a touch watery and somewhat sharp on white pepper with lots of alcohol. This clearly needs more time in the cask to develop further, but you do get a nice picture of what direction Kingsbarns is going and I have to say that I like it. Soft vanilla, some orange juice and a drop of honey, but not much else at this point.

The finish is somewhat short – but that’s fine – on citrus, pepper and honey.

Quite straightforward and lacking in character at this point, but that’s no surprise. The nose was already pretty good. This introduction can be savored as an aperitif while we eagerly await more – older – releases. Thanks for the sample, Imanuel.