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?

Imperial 1996 Gordon & Macphail (Blind) Review

Hi everyone,

Today I’ve got another mystery sample courtesy of u/UncleBaldric.

Imperial is one of the more available closed distilleries that is receiving a bit more attention than it used to. Remember the days when you could easily pick up a Signatory CS Imperial for £80? And these Gordon MacPhail Distillery Labels for under £60? Yeah, those were the days, the days when I didn’t realise how good I had it. I even remember recommending that someone start buying Imperial because the prices were going to go up. Did I go and follow my own advice? No, of course I didn’t.

Anyway, I had no idea this was Imperial at the time of first tasting but I did come back to it for post-reveal notes.

 

u/UncleBaldric Sample ‘B’

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Bright cherry and strawberry notes, kinda artificial though, juicy, putting your nose in a bag of strawberry sweets. Maybe some tobacco.

Post Reveal: Yes, of course. Red apple, dunnage, tobacco. Noses like a 40yo Speyside from Sherry.

Taste: Soft and sweet. Lots of ripe cherry and grape. Feels like just above 40%. Dry oak, spicy too with ginger and black pepper. Maybe it’s an old Blended Malt from Sherry?

Post Reveal: Dry and old tasting, much older than 19yo. More spicy than first taste too, bringing it out of balance.

Finish: Short length. Quite drying. Lovely strawberry, some spices.

Guess: Reminds me of a 1977 Blended Speyside Malt from Sherry… But it’s lacking something of the complexity and balance. Maybe a 2001?

Reveal: Imperial 1996 G&M Distillery Label 43% (Sherry Casks)

Very happy with my guess here. Right cask, right strength, right age (this was bottled 19yo). Forgot that Imperial often tastes older than its years. I have had the 1995 equivalent and rated it well. Felt like this wasn’t quite as good.

76/100

 

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #867

Whisky Network Review #1042

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?

Ledaig 42 Dùsgadh Review

Hi everyone,

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Lot been going on in my life and just have not found the motivation to write anything much about whisky.

However, I’m going to try and make more of concerted effort to keep posting reviews and helpful articles because there’s still stuff to taste and talk about and, hell, I enjoy it.

Many, many thanks go to u/UncleBaldric for the sample of this elusive dram!

 

So, this could be considered something of a white whale for me. I love Ledaig, it’s no secret, and yet I have never even seen a bottle of this open. Perhaps that’s got something to do with the fact that it’s the oldest and most expensive Ledaig ever bottled.

I had a very wonderful thing to celebrate in August last year, the birth of my first child. This was the dram I saved as something truly special to taste at the time.

In a world that seems increasingly confusing and chaotic, it is a comfort to take the time to sit with such a whisky. To sit, to be still, and, in a way, to fall into the glass…

 

Ledaig 42 Dùsgadh 46.7%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: There’s an entire world in here. Deep, rich and complex. The peat is well intact with medicinal notes of Calpol, tintures of old oils and medicinal things that have long past their use by date, old petrol soaked rags, kerosene, very old Jamacian rum, sea water, samphire, bandages, old sticking plasters. The Sherry comes in with a wave of dark fruit, raisin and figs, Christmas pudding, cinnamon, saffron, toffee apple and a touch of wild strawberry, lavender, some wood smoke. Developing into the most amazing and exotic dark chocolate money can buy. Oh, and add exotic black coffee too. There's so many layers to this and its constantly evolving and changing in wonderful ways. Beautiful, layered nose.

Taste: Soft and sweet arrival, lacking a touch of power to begin with before the peat comes in, very softly with coal dust, burnt paper, ash, some soft florals, a touch of lavender. Of course there's some oak but it's restrained for 42yo, some rich spices with saffron. Really chewy mouthfeel. Though the nose felt like it was more about the smoke, this is more about the Sherry I would say. Tobacco and dark chocolate going into the finish.

Finish: Long/Very Long length. More of the smoke here, plenty of tobacco, raisin, coals, even some blackberry actually. Then more drying oak and some very soft spice. Really long but very soft finish.

Distilled 1972, Gonzales Byass Oloroso Sherry finish from 2001 and bottled 2014. Dùsgadh means Awakening. Really very special stuff. I could nose this for hours! Having said that, this suffers from a very minor floral/soapy note that I've found in 1972 Tobermory's from Sherry casks too.

89/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #865

Whisky Network Review #1039

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?

Glen Ord 30 (2005) Review

Hi everyone,

In my opinion, Glen Ord is definitely one of those underrated distilleries. The clean, mineral style can make for some fantastic whisky and some of the old older bottlings were really well regarded. It is also the site of one of Diageo’s huge industrial maltings, so the malt is done in house too (technically).

So I’d always been on the lookout for this old CS version at 30 years old and was lucky enough to find a small bar in Chicago that had a happy hour on rare whisky! I was being shown around by Single Cask Nation’s Joshua Hatton and he also recommended this bottle.

I actually own a barrel of Glen Ord now and Having recently got a sample, I think it’s great stuff young too.

 

Glen Ord 30 58.7%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fresh and fruity, no way I would guess that this was 30yo, freshly cut citrus peels, orange, malty, malted milk biscuit, some white chocolate, more floral as it opens up with walking through an orchard with a load of flowers in bloom, just keeps on giving and developing. Stunning nose.

Taste: Soft and unctuous, super oily and fresh, those citrus peels again, orange, lime, great fruit, incredibly structured malt and oak tannin, amazing balance, poised and structure (Joshua said austere), slight mineral component developing more and more and continuing into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Great structure again, more mineral, still oily but drying with more of the oak here but not over the top at all.

Released 2005. Undoubtedly fantastic. It doesn’t quite reach emotional levels, though the nose is up there.

89/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #864

Whisky Network Review #1038

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?

Glengoyne 30 (2017 Release) Review

Hi everyone,

Another special whisky here. Glengoyne is one of those whiskies that I always think does pretty well in Sherry. And Bourbon actually. Usually with some age on it. A little like Macallan and similar in style. But it’s usually better than Macallan. And a lot cheaper.

This is anything but cheap. In fact, it’s expensive. But we’ll keep in mind that a 30yo Macallan would be a lot more, so there’s that.

Anyway, I was very lucky to get to try this courtesy of the Swiss importer for Glengoyne, Charles Hofer SA.

Glengoyne 30 (2017) 46.8%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Glazed cherries, Maraschino cherries, 90% dark chocolate, espresso, a tiny touch of Glengoyne heathery malt but its pretty much covered over by the intense dark sherry. Manuka honey, maple syrup, woody vanilla, beef stock cube (meaty), stewed plums. Opens up very slowly.

Taste: Soft and almost lacking power at first, grows, monolithic darkness, stewed plum and dried fig, dark chocolate, coffee grounds, silky mouthfeel. Old spice box and leathery, tobacco, dark raisin. Not really sweet, more about the dark and bitter flavours. The oak doesn't feel too much and some of the distillery character might be in there somewhere. Dark chocolate covered cherries and a bit of heather.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dark again with more 90% dark chocolate, bitter cherry. Very soft finish.

6000 bottles, 1/3 1st fill sherry, 2/3 2nd fill. A little too bitter and dark, but it is bloody good. I get the impression that if this had just held on a little more of the abv the spirit character might have had more of a chance against the intense intense dark sherry. As it is, the complexity on this is incredible but the balance is not quite there.

Better than the 25yo though IMO, so if you loved that, definitely try and get hold of this.

83/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #863

Whisky Network Review #1037

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?

Ben Nevis 10 Review

Hi everyone,

Another review today, this time a more usual OB.

This is a much rarer bottling of an OB. You don’t see much Ben Nevis, but when you do, it tends to be independents. Ben Nevis is owned by Nikka, which means that a lot of it ends up being shipped to Japan, as single malt as well as being used in a bunch of Japanese blends (not much of a secret anymore).

Anyway, I’d kept my eye out for this one for a while. Thanks to Rowan for the sample.

 

Ben Nevis 10 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sweet and malty, golden raisin, golden syrup, quite Macallan-like actually, quite oily smelling, thick and unctuous. Nice nose, though there are metallic hints at times.

Taste: Thick and oily, sweet with earthy malt backing the fruit coming through, golden raisin and golden syrup, some dried fig, slightly metallic- copper pennies.

Finish: Long length. A little harsher here with some ginger spice and the metallic note coming in stronger.

Interesting whisky! I am learning that Ben Nevis make some good stuff. There's definitely some good sherry casks in here with the quite robust spirit.

74/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #861

Whisky Network Review #1035

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?

Clynelish 2010 Single Cask Nation Review

Hi everyone,

You may have noticed a particular pinned post on r/Scotch today… We are doing an AMA! The first one in a while I think.

In honour of my friends from Single Cask Nation coming to join us and answer our questions, I have a review of a special whisky. This bottle of Clynelish was a birthday present from Joshua himself and he signed it too!

These guys bottle some fantastic whisky and I’ve been lucky enough to be on their podcast, One Nation Under Whisky, which was super fun. See you on Tuesday at 3pm EST for the AMA!!

 

Clynelish 2010 Single Cask Nation 58.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Light, ethereal and oily. Perfumed and candle waxy, marshmallow, creamy nose, white florals- Lily, Ylang Ylang, some orange blossom, chewy sweets like the white undersides of Haribo eggs.

Water: Instantly creamier, white chocolate truffles with the gooey white chocolate insides, melting marshmallow, dried banana chips, foam banana sweets.

Taste: Ethereal but full flavoured, plenty of creamy oils and perfumed white florals, some malt in there too, a little spice (white pepper) balancing nicely with a touch of dry oak. Really lovely young whisky with interesting notes and an excellent development and mouthfeel.

Water: Softer, less power, more malt, almost slightly earthy, excellent minerality coming out, clean as a blade. Lovely.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Fizzy tingling spices and oak leaving some of the oils. Not quite as excellent here.

Bottled at 9yo from a Bourbon barrel. The lightness and delicacy combined with the fullness and power is really interesting and well done.

80/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #860

Whisky Network Review #1034

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?

Yoichi 15 Review

Hi everyone,

Yes, Japanese whisky has gone nuts. Some nice standard releases from Yoichi and Miyagikyo disappeared very, very quickly, including this one. For those that don’t know, Yoichi and Miyagikyo are two of Nikka’s actual Japanese distilleries (I.e. not Ben Nevis with Japanese water added).

I was fortunate to try this in Germany last year, courtesy of my friend Michael.

 

Yoichi 15 45%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fragrant and fruity, full and oily, reminiscent of Springbank, a heaviness of the malt, vanilla pod, slightly dirty smoke, light chocolate and milky coffee. A very little grassy.

Taste: Soft then oily, great oils, some spices coming in, dry oak, vanilla pod, orange, some dirty smoke.

Finish: Medium length. More fruity with lemon and orange, drying oak.

Quite complex for 15, more smoke than the 10. Should you add it to your Japanese whisky investment portfolio? Probably not at today’s prices.

77/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Japanese Review #27

Whisky Network Review #1031

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?