Kilkerran 16 Review

Hi everyone,

Have you ever found yourself really wanting a new whisky? Like really, really wanting it. But it’s limited. Very limited. And so the inevitable hours begin scouring websites for this whisky on and around its release date, only to be minutes (or even seconds) too late every time.

This is very much how I felt about Kilkerran 16. I spent some very stressful hours over the course of three or four days trying to buy a bottle of this. I was obsessive. I would be on my phone almost constantly, hitting refresh over and over again.

I was lucky that my diligence paid off and I found a bottle on Abbey Whisky a few minutes before they sold out.

 

Kilkerran 16 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Like Kilkerran 12yo and Springbank Local Barley had a baby. Let's say the 16yoLB. Very austere in style, stripped back, clean whisky. Can we say old school? I think so. Old papers and books, a touch of fruit, melon maybe, lightly mineral with graphite pencil, some clay, lightly spicy with black pepper, some creamy vanilla. There is a touch of plastic at times though, some wood glue.

Taste: A slightly flat arrival, followed by mineral notes and a mouth-filling texture, plenty of oils, again the old paper, quite dry and blisteringly austere, a touch of orange hidden in there, carbon and a little soot (also carbon I know), old school oak, some creamy vanilla in there but it's pretty swamped by the dryness. Luckily, there's a burst of lovely complex spice in the mid-palate that really brings this together and makes it interesting- green peppercorns, lemon and stem ginger combo, ginseng root, very strong green tea, oily black pepper towards the back end.

Finish: Short/Medium length. The spices stick around, black and green peppercorns, a little ginger, the oak, maybe some heather, maybe some orange. A very small kick of smoke too.

98% Bourbon, 2% Madeira. 2020, 1st Release. Intellectual whisky. Not something you can just mindlessly enjoy, you really have to pay attention to get it. Could be an unpeated 16yo Talisker. Is it good? Yes, yes it is. Was it worth the price? At £60, probably. Was it worth the hours I spent tracking it down, stressing over snatching up a bottle before they could sell out? No, no it wasn't. There are moments of brilliance here, but they don't ever quite come to fruition.

78/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #868

Whisky Network Review #1043

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

 

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Scapa 16 Review

Hi everyone,

Today I’ve got a whisky that I’d been trying to track down for a while. Scapa with an age statement, something that hasn’t been seen in quite a while. This version was discontinued a good few years ago.

Scapa, if you didn’t know, is the other distillery on Orkney. It used to have one of the longest fermentation times of any distillery, always being above 120 hours. This has since been cut to 48 hours, along with the release of a bunch of uninteresting NAS whiskies. People speak quite highly of this one though.

This was another one I wanted to taste to complete 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die.

 

Scapa 16 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Fruity and heathery, loads of fresh apple, light honey and vanilla, pleasant nose.

Taste: Soft then quite watery before the spice arrives but then it goes very dry and spicy, harsh ginger, finally the honey and heather come to the rescue at the end.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oily and heathery, honey, HP-like. A tiny bit of plastic right at the end.

Can’t help but think that this would have been pretty good at 46% or even 43%. As it stands, Scapa has bored my twice, though I can imagine it being great as a single cask, cask strength thing. Sadly, we don’t see it independently bottled very often.

67/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #853

Whisky Network Review #1026

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

 

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Laphroaig 16 & 1999 SMWS 29.173 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two 16 year old Laphroaig’s to review today.

I was excited for the new OB as it’s a decent age, decent strength and Laphroaig. The only thing that grates me slightly is that I paid £20 less for the 18yo, but that was a few years ago now and such is life.

And since we seem to be in the middle of a little apocalypse I opened a 16yo Laphroaig from SMWS that we can compare against.

Laphroaig 16 48%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Nice mineral/seaweedy blast, soft vanilla, soft malt, plenty of peat and iodine, fresh bandages, clean classic Laphroaig. Great nose.

Taste: Soft and oily arrival, building mineral and medicinal flavours, iodine, bandages and honey, then more fruit with a fresh lemon/lime and under ripe mango thing, then back to more peat with sea soaked rocks drying in the sun.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A touch of rubber into the finish then salt and pepper, quite dry. Not as good here.

Finish lets it down a little but a great, slightly softer Laphroaig. Much prefer this to the 15yo 200th Anniversary.

77/100

Laphroaig 1999 SMWS 29.173 59.8%

'Forget time and space'

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Fresher and fruitier than expected with plenty of citrus, lime rind, grapefruit juice, light malty smoke backing it, salty samphire, driftwood bonfire. There is a medicinal touch to it but its quite subtle and in the background, clean bandages.

Water: Loses the fruit and now it's more about the earthy malt, mud after rain, the orange is coming back now.

Taste: Clean arrival, very bright and citrusy, then suddenly grips the tongue with heavy heavy smoke with lots of minerality and salt, licking salty rocks, sand saturated with sea water, samphire, grapfruit and dirty orange, stunning oils and really lovely balance.

Water: Softer and more fruity with an incredible orange flesh thing I remember from samples at the distillery, some seaweed, soft but heavy smoke. Takes me right back to the distillery.

Finish: Long length. More petrol-y here, delicious and super oily, a little lemon zest perhaps. With water there's a coal and ash thing going on.

Bottled at 16yo from a refill Bourbon barrel. The whisky I got for my engagement! Just fantastic indie Laphroaig, oily, balanced, citrusy, salty, a little medicinal. Not quite the equal of ‘Sausage Sandwiches and Oil Rigs’.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #849-#850

Whisky Network Reviews #1021-#1022

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Mortlach x5 Reviews! 16 new & old, 18, 1993 Adelphi & 1988 Cadenhead's

Hi everyone,

For reasons explained here, Mortlach is awesome. A brand not without its up and downs though, having been a great (perhaps the best) Flora & Fauna, discontinued into a 50cl ultra premium (read expensive) range and now the backtrack!

Diageo actually listened. LISTENED! To us! The multitude. About a whisky. Amazing.

Anyway, since their ultra premium stuff didn’t sell very well, they’ve brought back the 16 with a vengeance. I got a chance to try it yesterday and realised I’ve got a whole flight of Mortlach’s I’ve tried recently, including the F&F. So we’ve got quite the selection today.

Mortlach 16 Flora & Fauna 43%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Oooooooh, Sherry, dense and rich. Slightly earthy malt, resinous oils, dry oak, raisin and fig, orange, I can't find any meatiness here, coffee beans, dark tobacco and leather. Great complex nose with some old Balvenie characteristics.

Taste: Thick, oily and resinous, a little flat here to start (very minor), great dark oak, tingling spice, dark chocolate, raisins, sweetness, syrupy Sherry, leathery and dried fig and prune and date, some orange here too.

Finish: Long length. Thick, oily and dark. More dark chocolate, resin and wood polish, antique furniture. Amazing finish.

What a loss to the whisky world! At first I thought it was all about the Sherry and little else but opens up well giving more complex notes off. Wouldn't be surprised if there's some 20+yo Mortlach in here too. Perhaps even quite a bit of it...

82/100

 

Mortlach 18 43.4%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Deep and heavy, Sherry influence but still fresh, red apple, meaty malt, cranberry, coriander spice, cherry, quite complex, powerful nose despite the abv. The floral geranium comes out after a bit with soft milk chocolate.

Taste: Sweet hit then nosedives in power, slowly comes back with dry oak, geranium, orange, some Sherry, malt and oils coming in later, ginger and black pepper spice.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Again lacking power here, soft florals, chocolate and some malt.

Why?! Why wasn't this bottled at 48% and in a normal bottle and reasonable price? Actually keep your crazy price, at least a higher strength… Lovely Mortlachian nose but the rest is disappointing. Opens up well though, give it time.

76/100

 

Mortlach 16 Distiller's Dram 43.4%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fresh Sherry and meaty dense spirit. Red apple and dark chocolate, a subtle touch of sulphur- struck match, raisin, some cherry. Develops more meat! Haggis! Black pudding! Dried earth.

Taste: Soft, clean arrival, lacking power for a short moment before oily red apple comes in, raisin, meaty Sherry, malt, dark chocolate and heather into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oily chocolate, some nice oak comes in with leather. Nicely balanced here.

Ballsy move from Diageo to bring this back out. Even better that the quality is high. Impressive.

80/100

Let’s go onto some new indies because they’re always great too!

 

Mortlach 1993 Adelphi 56%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Fresh blood and fresh paint! Woah. Under that there's fruit with red apple and orange. Old style Mortlach with leather, musky, expensive praline chocolates, really wonderful nose.

Taste: Sweet! Much sweeter than I was expecting. Orange, malt, cherry, chocolate, awesome meaty prune and fig, sweet oak, Sherry, expensive dark chocolate. A little too woody as it develops.

Finish: Long length. Oak and chocolate, dusty chocolate and, weirdly, wood experiment wood from unseasoned oak.

Sherry cask. Amazing nose but the late development and finish don't live up to it. Still Mortlach and Sherry don't often go wrong, although the price on this one is pretty damn high.

81/100

 

Mortlach 1988 Cadenhead's 55.1%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Ethereal and punchy at first nosing. Then more meaty as it gets going. Plum and apricot fresh fruit, black pepper, fried black pudding, maple cured bacon, icing sugar, the sweet and savoury notes are really well balanced and melding together. Those Canadian maple biscuits that smell woody and sweet and delicious. Resin and leather developing, develops really well actually. WOAHOHO, what the hell has happened now?! Coming back after a minute there's a white vinegar note like an over-aged white wine, also soy sauce and petrol-y fumes. AMAZING and complex and delicious. Incredible nose.

Taste: Really soft arrival, very very balanced, fresh and citrus arrival then big punchy fresh fruit, dried apricot and peach, golden raisin, thick oily malt, maple syrup, some bacon, but more savoury into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Drying, more savoury then spicy and woody, bacon and black pepper, a lasting ginger tingle.

Sherry cask, 29yo. A technically flawless whisky. Awesome and fun. And an actually reasonable price! Was lucky enough to get one of these for my birthday this year.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #687-#691

Whisky Network Reviews #821-#825

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glen Elgin 16 (Special Releases 2008) Review

Hi everyone,

This was another wonderful sample from Whisky in Leiden a few weeks ago. This time an official and heavily Sherried Glen Elgin. Whom, if you remember correctly, use Worm Tubs, which should give a heft to the spirit and a sulphury-ness that would make Jim Murray quake in his fedora.

 

Glen Elgin 16 58.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Really heavy in style. Slightly sulphury, thick raisin and Christmas cake, dark chocolate, dense nose. Biscuit-y malt.

Taste: Soft and clean, very nice development with a surge of sweet Sherry and heavy spirit, malt, earthy, tobacco and leather, black coffee.

Finish: Long length. Black coffee, bitter charcoal, lightly dirty sulphur.

Part of the 2008 special releases. Bet they were less expensive back then too! A very nice Mortlach/Benrinnes style Glen Elgin.

85/100

Distillery: Glen Elgin

Average Score: 76

Distillery Ranking: 27th/61 places

Up/Down: 43>27 (Up 16)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #618

Whisky Network Review #736

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Longmorn 1968 Scott's & OB16 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Another fantastic old whisky today from the Maltstock guys (again, many many thanks!) and a bonus old review I’ve forgotten to put up for ages.

Longmorn 1968 Scott's Selection 61.8%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Very oaky, gone into a little alien territory, leather, wet ash, complex tropical fruit hidden underneath. Musty.

Water: More expressive with more of the tropical fruit, dried mango, orange, old wooden cupboards. Needs lots of time to open up.

Taste: Wow, stunning! Very tropical, great oak, complex leather and chocolate, strength doesn't feel at all. Mango and dried pineapple, milk bottle sweets.

Water: More intense arrival, waves of green apple, citrus, tropical fruit and lots of oak, chocolate and leather.

Finish: Long length. Goes very soft but stays with silky oak, milk chocolate and some malt. Longer with water.

Bottled 2003, at 35yo. Incredible strength for the age, and incredibly soft. Nose is a little closed though, holding it back.

87/100

 

Longmorn 16 (Old Bottling) 48%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Juicy tropical fruit- Mango, pineapple, light American oak, vanilla.

Taste: Really juicy, mango, pineapple, apple, vanilla, honey.

Finish: Medium length.

A very nice tropical whisky, no idea why the discontinued this. Oh wait, they bumped the price from £50 to £90.

75/100

Distillery: Longmorn

Average Score: 80.3

Distillery Ranking: Joint 8th/ 62 places

Up/Down: N/a

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #612-#613

Whisky Network Reviews #724-#725

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glenburgie 1997 OMC & Glentauchers 1996 Sig Reviews (PLUS blind review video)

Hi everyone,

Glenburgie is a distillery that’s been quietly gaining a few fans in the last couple of years. Partly down to some epic Sherry casks but perhaps also because its got a great character too.

This was another one I blind tasted for my YouTube channel and I guessed it was an 18yo Glentauchers (although I got mixed up with Glenturret) at just under 50%, which I was pretty happy with! You can watch the vid HERE.

This was my first Glenburgie I tasted, thanks to a sample from FineDrams.

 

Glenburgie 1997 Hunter Laing 50%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Malty and creamy. Vanilla, vanilla ice cream, malt, cereal, double cream.

Water: More aromatic, more oak, more malt. A little oak char, chocolate and a green wood note.

Taste: Gentle arrival, very creamy mouthfeel. Malty, cereal, vanilla, some oak coming in after a while.

Water: Even more creamy. More spice with nutmeg and cinnamon. Some oak char.

Finish: Medium length. Coffee and dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel is the main event here, although the spirit is clearly very good quality. Will definitely be keeping an eye out for more Glenburgie in the future.

73/100

 

Eh, for the hell of comparison, here’s my notes for the Glentauchers that I guessed it was in the blind review:

Glentauchers 1996 Signatory Cask Strength 48.8%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Quite vibrant and oak-driven. Sealing wax, melon, lemon, lemon juice, a little vanilla, oak perfume (If there was such a thing), floral notes- Dried flowers, lavender, home-made paper, bath bombs, a little dusty, dry oak.

Water: More floral, looking through a dusty book of pressed and dried flowers.

Taste: Big and oaky. Mouth filling, dry and juicy, cardboard and home-made paper at first then lemon juice with building oak, going quite dry, lots of complex dark chocolate and coffee beans, also going into the finish.

Water: More gentle arrival, more gradual development, more balance, but still big and oaky into the finish.

Finish: Long length. An oak hit then 90% dark chocolate lingers.

Bottled 2014 at 18yo. Cask 185, Bourbon barrel. Tastes older than 18 years, more like 20 or 25. Now that I think about it, there’s quite a few Signatory’s like that. Something to do with their warehousing maybe?

72/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #573-#574

Whisky Network Review #678-#679

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?