Kilkerran Heavily Peated, batch 3

I arrived a little late at this relatively new “Peat in Progress’ party because the Kilkerran Heavily Peated is already in its 3rd batch. But for me, it is the first batch …. Well, at least it’s the first bottle that I bought (tried the other two on festivals) Yup, you can’t buy it all, even if it’s something from your favourite brands.

The batches of the Heavily Peated appeared for the first time at the beginning of 2019 and will follow a similar path as we’ve seen from the WIP bottles (Work in Progress), which were released by Kilkerran before the first official bottling was launched – the Kilkerran 12 year old. Eventually, an official heavily peated single malt will be added to the core range in a few years, but until then I’m very happy to be able to follow the process and progress of these “Peat in progress” bottles.

Anyway, let’s see what this batch 3 has to offer first. Different from the previous two, this one has matured in a combination of 80% ex-bourbon and 20% ex-sherry casks. This was previously 55% and was 45%. For the rest, nothing has changed. It’s still bottled at cask strength, resulting in a strength of 59.7%, and it’s still peated to 84 PPM. When we talk about the age, batch 3 is half a year older compared to its predecessor.

Kilkerran Heavily Peated tasting notes:

Nose: quite young, oats and earthy peat. A touch of vanilla. Lemon pastry and pears. Apricots too. Salted caramel, which is followed by a hint of bbq smoke and coffee beans.

Taste: a somewhat oily mouthfeel, which is rather nice, but quite the alcohol punch too. Which was to be expected. Oats, vanilla. and plenty of salted caramel. Slightly bitter note from coffee beans. Then some black pepper.

Finish: mid-long to long with vanilla, lemons and peat. And a note of bbq fire as well.

Unfortunately, I can’t make a real comparison with the previous batches, because as I already mentioned I only tasted those two at festivals. But it feels like it’s improved compared to the other two batches. It’s really good.

It’s slightly aggressive in the taste, which betrays its youthfulness. Water doesn’t improve that either. But there is a lot of potential in this whisky. Very tasty and very enjoyable already. A nice dram and I’m really looking forward to the next batches.