I have absolutely no idea how this one slipped by me. Maybe because I just wasn’t paying attention, but normally if there’s anything from Campbeltown in a Fino Cask coming out, I need to have it. Because it is delicious, usually.

But, this one slipped by me and I only had a 10cl sample of it, courtesy of a swap with RvB. The label didn’t say it was a Fino cask and I hadn’t paid proper attention when the sample came in, so I had it on the shelf for a week or so before I tried it. Then I finished it, right away.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Lots of intense sherry. Fino, and clearly so. Lots of mold and typical funkiness for Springbank’s distillate, even if it is Kilkerran. Old baking spices, stewed fruit.

Sip:
A tad sharper than I expected, with hints of salinity, bitterness and dry oak. Apple seeds, skins. Baking spices, nutmeg, clove, but also old cardboard, moldy attics.

Swallow:
A gentle and rather fruity, big sherry finish. Dry oak, cork, bitterness.

This is a belter! It’s big, but not ridiculously ‘just sherry’ with nothing else. It seems like this is one of those awesome Fino casks which I have come to love from Springbank, and in this case Kilkerran, which is Springbank made a hundred yards down the road.

Now, if anyone knows if there are bottles available somewhere, since Whiskybase doesn’t have any links anymore…

90/100

Kilkerran 15yo, 2004-2019, Fino Sherry Puncheon, 51.6%