This time I'll be reviewing batches #1 to #3 of Heavily Peated from @Kilkerran2004 distillery, what differences are there?
Kilkerran's Glengyle distillery is located in Campbeltown at the bottom of the Kintyre peninsula next door to it's sister distillery Springbank. Kilkerran or "Cille Chiarain" in Gaelic is the original name of Campbeltown.
They share maltings, warehousing and staff! Originally founded in 1872 then closed in 1923, it was reopened by Springbank in 2004. It's 2 stills give it a capacity 0.74 million litres of alcohol per year but it runs at well below that - only distilling for a few weeks each year usually when Springbank is undergoing maintenance.
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| Glengyle's compact distillery |
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| Work In Progress |
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Springbank's Malt Kiln |
Like the unpeated "Work-in-Progress" releases which resulted in the core range
12yo, these heavily peated "Peat-in-Progress" are leading towards a core range
age statemented release.
| Dram |
Batch No. 1 (Feb 2019) |
Batch No. 2 (Sep 2019) |
Batch No. 3 (Aug 2020) |
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Characteristics (Shared) |
NAS Natural colour NCF 84ppm |
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| 55% Ex-Bourbon & 45% Ex-Sherry | 80% Ex-Bourbon & 20% Ex-Sherry | ||
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Characteristics (Different) |
59.3% ABV 9,000 bottles |
60.9% ABV A vatting of two refill hogsheads |
59.7% ABV A vatting of two refill hogsheads |
| Distillery info |
Nose: Fresh apples, mixed seeds, strawberry laces and confectionary sweets. Smouldering campfire and toasted marshmallows. Palate: Grilled fruits, cooking popcorn, caramelised brown sugar, puff pasty and peppermint creams.. Finish: Toasted oats, salted beef, butter, Parma ham and crushed vanilla pods. |
Nose: Opens up to reveal citrus notes, vanilla cheesecake,
rhubarb and custard sweets with delicate peat smoke. Palate: Freshly baked Bramley apple pie and sweet salted caramel. The peat is prolific yet well integrated. A fresh coastal influence evokes memories of a blustery, busy, sea sprayed harbour. Finish: Long and creamy. Notes of toasted oak and pencil shavings give way to a lasting sweet, fruity peat smoke. |
Nose: bright with notes of citrus and smoked applewood. Maritime
coastal influence & hints of blackened, toasted marshmallow and
tropical fruit sweetness. As ever, that familiar dunnage warehouse
funk hangs in the background. Palate: Initially biscuity and buttery, flavours of liquorice and fennel developing later. Sweet, fruity peat smoke gives way to a drier smoky peat, evoking that real, full smoky atmosphere of the working kiln room. A signature apple strudel note makes its way through and lemon sherbet flavours develop with every sip. Finish: Long, well integrated peat smoke carries through. It is remarkably complex throughout with the heavy peat smoke not overpowering. A malty, cereal character and more of a coastal influence coming through in this batch in comparison to previous editions. |
| My thoughts: | |||
| Appearance |
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| Pale gold in the glass, swirls leave a thick line around the glass which forms beads and falls as slow thick legs. | If anything a little paler gold in the glass and a different swirl result - a thin line which takes time to bead up - forming an inverted crown before falling as then slow legs. | Paler again, almost white wine. Swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass which slowly beads up and falls as slow thin legs. | |
| Nose | Huge heathery peat smoke notes, a little dried tropical fruit and citrus. A little time in the glass offers Campbeltown maritime notes and a little toffee but the high ABV gives little else away. | The peat smoke notes are there but this time with more maritime breeze notes. The ABV isn't as noticeable as No. 1. A little orchard fruit rather than tropical and nothing in the way of citrus. |
The smokiest of the three, this is standing by a fire on the beach -
the smoke being blown into your face. Again the ABV isn't as noticeable as No. 1. Like No. 2 there's orchard fruit rather than tropical and again no citrus. |
| Palate |
Thick chewy arrival - smoke and salt vying for the attention of your
taste buds. It's smokey bacon crisps with a good sprinkle of salt
added. There's a little sweetness from more of the tropical
fruit. A little time and air offers some liquorice notes. Spice pops up as the liquid disappears like popping candy on the tongue. No sign of any sherry notes (2nd fill maybe) this seems all ex-bourbon led to me. |
Again a thick arrival and this time a little oily. The smoke and
salt are there again but there's more citrus this time - a lovely
sour lemon note. Dark chocolate and liquorice offer a slightly bitter drying note. There's a bitter citrus note left on the tongue as the liquid disappears but this soon disappears to leave a warmth. Again no sherry.... |
Again thick oily arrival, initially sweeter than the previous two
with a huge spicy bite. The smoke and salt are still there, a little
sour citrus and the dark chocolate of No. 2. A little time in the glass and a little air offers coffee notes and a peppery spice that isn't there on the first two - the 80% bourbon in the mix? The sweetness soon disappears after a few sips - and the mouth is left dry as the liquid disappears. |
| Finish | Long lingering peat smoke with a vanilla and peppery spice bite. | More seaweed on the finish but the smoke is still here, again a vanilla and peppery bite - nice. | Lingering dry smoke, salt, a little oak and a peppery spice - yummy! |
| Overall |
All three of these drams are around 60% ABV but at no time did I
feel the need to add any water - I think the smoke and salt notes
help to mask the young raw alcohol but they are all good, none had
any sherry notes to speak of but No. 3 with less sherry in the mix
has a more noticeable spice note. The 84ppm really shines through - these are smoke led drams, I've read some reviews suggesting gentle peat smoke - far from it - this is slap in the face peat smoke. Typical Islay smoke bombs such as Ardbeg or Laphroaig are in the range 40-60ppm - this is way higher. Dark chocolate and liquorice appeared across the batches giving a drying note to the palate and finish. The barley is malted and smoked onsite at Springbank so you'd think this would be similar to Longrow (50-55ppm) but it's not it's much more smoky. I'd probably choose the No. 3 over the other two it's obviously slightly older and has taken on a little more of the cask influence so less 'raw'. These are young drams, probably circa 3, 4 and 5yo respectively. Don't get me wrong though these are all good drams - the ABV helping mask the youthfulness. Batch No. 3 is available now for around £45 - you'd be hard pressed to get an earlier one now but keep an eye out, well worth a bottle! So how is Peat Progressing? I don't think this is 'In Progress' anymore - it's ready for a mainstream release! |
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Many thanks to @chris_f74 for the Batch #2 sample!
Geeky stuff:
| Kilkerran Peat In Progress Batches | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batch | Released | Bourbon | Sherry | ABV |
| 4 | May '21 | 80% | 20% | 58.6% |
| 3 | Aug '20 | 80% | 20% | 59.7% |
| 2 | Sep '19 | 55% | 45% | 60.9% |
| 1 | Feb '19 | 55% | 45% | 59.3% |
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