Want an award-winning Single Malt produced in very limited quantities from a dynasty of exceptional distillers? Want a whisky whose reviews are glowing from all quarters? From the Glengyle Distillery in Campbeltown, comes this month’s whisky – the Kilkerran 12 year old.
This very lightly peated and double-distilled Single Malt whisky is sublime, with 70% of the single malt aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and the remaining 30% matured in sherry.
This is the flagship whisky of the Glengyle distillery – mothballed for over three quarters of a century before being resurrected by the Mitchel family of Springbank fame. The Glengyle stills are known for producing a light and sweet spirit with some oily and salty notes- and this one is no exception. The Kilkerran peat tends to enhance and frame the otherwise fruity character of the whisky, rather than ‘lead the charge’ so to speak. We wanted our members to be able to contrast the whiskies from last months Scarabus).
The reviews of the Kilkerrin 12 year old are nothing short of superb across the Internet. In fact, we couldn’t actually find a single negative review of this sweet fruity and multi-layered whisky.
“Oh YUM.. What a dram!”
“One of the best presented 12 year old single malts out there. An incredibly good value for money whisky.”
“This is an excellent whisky, combining nuance and complexity with a light, fragrant style.” – The Whisky Wash
Oh, and some creepy guy with a funny hat gave it a 90.5 in a book he writes every year!
OUR TASTING NOTES
The Kilkerran 12 year old is lightly peated and double-distilled, 70% of the single malt aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and the remaining 30% matured in sherry.
Colour: Dark straw
Nose: Fruit and nuts and sweet cupcake frosting enveloped in an oaky embrace with just a light reminder of peat.
Palate: Light and fruity – there’s raisins and sultanas, a good dollop of vanilla, some zesty citrus peel and a rounded malty flavour. What peat is here is very subdued.
Finish: A delightful light, yet loitering finish with lots of citrus freshness, just a sprinkling of pepper, but also the Campbeltown seaside is well represented with a salty turn and just the suggestion of a campfire over yonder.
FROM THE BOTTLERS
Our award winning single malt is produced in very limited quantities, making it as scarce as hens’ teeth. Despite its small production scale, Kilkerran 12 Year old is still available in small quantities in over 25 countries across the world.
Nose: oak notes are dominant, followed by toasted marshmallows and dried fruit pudding, as well as cherries, marzipan and a hint of peat
Palate: initially fruity with citrus notes and orange peel, after this: vanilla, butterscotch, honeycomb and digestive biscuits can all be tasted and enjoyed
Finish: velvet and smooth with lemon meringue, to conclude, there’s an oiliness and a saltiness that you’d expect from a Campbeltown dram
ABOUT THE DISTILLERY
At the peak of Campbeltown’s fame, in 1851, the region was home to 29 legal distilleries plus at least 50 (and probably many more) illicit distilleries. In fact, it was the most productive whisky region in Scotland. Today, sadly, only 3 operating distilleries remain in Campbeltown – Glen Scotia, Springbank and Glengyle distilleries.
The Glengyle Distillery was founded by William Mitchell in 1872. The Mitchel Family wasn’t new to whisky production as they had also owned the Springbank Distillery since 1837 (and indeed, to this day). After a promising beginning, Glengyle was sold in 1919 to West Highland Malt distillers. After only 4 years they closed down Glengyle in 1925 and it sat silent for 75 years.
It was a multi-faceted ‘perfect storm’ of factors all combined to leave the Campbeltown whisky industry devastated and by the year 2000, only 2 working distilleries remained. (we went into this in a bit more detail in our May Malt of the Month).
There was a brief glimmer of hope in the late 30’s when Glengyle was purchased by the Bloch Brothers (who own Glen Scotia Distillery) – but World War 2 intervened and their plans for restoration and expansion of Glengyle never eventuated. Nor did it ever reopen under the Bloch Bros.
So any way, by 2000 Campbeltown was in tatters as a whisky region with only 2 working distilleries. It was around this time the Scotch Whisky Association began to seriously discuss ‘declassifying’ Campbeltown as an official whisky region.
It didn’t take long for this talk of declassification by the SWA to reach the ears of William Mitchel’s Great-Grandson, Hedley Wright. As Chairman of J&A Mitchell (who still own Springbank) there was no way he could let the Campbeltown loose it’s ‘official region’ status and so he set about making sure that didn’t happen.
In 2000 J&A Mitchell purchased the remains of Glengyle distillery – and once it was ‘back in the family’, he set about restoring it back into production. By 2004 the stills at Glengyle were operating once again after a more than three quarters of a century rest.
The re-opening of the Glengyle Distillery bought the number of operating Campbeltown distilleries back to three which equalled the number of Lowland Distilleries. Thus, recognition by the SWA of Campbeltown as an official Whisky Region was saved.
And you’d think this is where the story ends – but no! The question remains why do they brand Glengyle Distillery whisky as Kilkerran? Well… the reason is twofold.
Firstly, because the name Glengyle is already used for a blended Highland malt and the Mitchell family were not able to purchase the rights to use that name. They also wished to avoid any possible confusion between the newest single malt to come from the Campbeltown region and a pre-existing blended Highland malt.
Secondly, and more importantly, the Mitchel Family are very proud to be continuing and adding to the great Campbeltown Distilling tradition and the choice of name reflects that. Kilkerran is derived from the Gaelic ‘Ceann Loch Cille Chiarain’ which is the name of the original settlement where Saint Kerran had his religious cell and where Campbeltown itself now stands.
The well known Kilkerran 12 year old Single Malt logo is inspired by the tower of Campbeltown’s Lorne and Lowland church which can be seen from the distillery. The logo is a depiction of the view through a particular window in the distillery.
