These 16 year old Kilkerrans never really work for me. I’ve tried several different version, I think I’ve had the 2020, 2021 and 2022 versions now, and none of them scored very high in my book. They’re decent, absolutely not a bad dram, but not a high-scoring whisky either. And that coming from a Campbeltown distillery that follows the same distilling procedure as Springbank, more or less.

This one was tried on day 9 of the Blind Tasting Competition. Of course I scored zero points, I did not, at any point, associate this with a Campbeltown whisky.

Sniff:
Very dry on the nose. Dry oak shavings, some moss and green tree bark. Barley husks and some roasted coconut. A little bit of vanilla, and some apple.

Sip:
The palate is bone dry with heaps of white pepper. Dry oak shavings, apples and a bit of brittle caramel, pear, coconut husk.

Swallow:
The finish is more barley and bread, slightly thin towards the end.

Because of it being a rather green dram, I went towards distilleries like Teaninich and Glen Elgin. Of course it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The whisky is a decent dram, much like I wrote earlier. It’s not great, but it’s far from bad either. A bit middle of the road, and compared to what is coming from Campbeltown, I don’t think I’ll ever pick this over the Springbank 10.

84/100

Still available from Best of Wines for € 100