Kilkerran 8 Year Old is the young cask strength offering from Glengyle distillery. So far there have been 4 batches of this whisky (first batch was checked back in 2017 here).

But the last batch (No. 4) deviated from the road paved by the first 3 batches and offers a sherry matured Kilkerran 8 Year Old instead of the Bourbon casks used in the previous three batches.

And it’s not just regular sherry casks but Re-charred Oloroso Sherry casks, making the wood a bit more (or maybe a lot more) active. 15,000 bottles were produced at 57.1%. Let’s check it out!

Kilkerran 8 Year Old Re-charred Oloroso Sherry Casks (57.1%, €74,48)

Nose: Cherries and raspberry chocolate, greenery leaning towards vegetal/farmy side, a bit of wood smoke, cranberries. After a few minutes more dark chocolate (with high cocoa content) and cherries, a minuscule herbal/floral side show up yet still have the dirt and peat in the background to complement and balance the sherry influence. Quite an intense nose!

Palate: Dried fruit, sour berries, cinnamon, nutmeg, dark chocolate, dirty with peat and coal dust, then some more dark chocolate but with espresso, sweet and gentle oak spice and it ends with peat and coals.

Finish: Long length, dried red berries, chocolate, cocoa, espresso, peat smoke and coals

Thoughts: A cracker! It’s amazing this whisky is so rich and balanced at just 8 Year Old. The lack of depth sometimes do peeps through but the Cask magic makes you forget about it. Really good whisky to sip and enjoy, especially if bought at the retail price tag.