Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11 Year Old Single Cask Whisky Review!

A cask strength single cask independent bottling of Kilkerran from Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. When is an independent bottling not an independent bottling? Well, when the whisky is great, does it matter?

Both Cadenhead's and Glengyle Distillery (producing Kilkerran whisky) are owned by Campbeltown's J&A Mitchell, which makes this one of those rare occasions where both the distillery and the independent bottler are part of the same company. Is this still an independent bottling, then? Technically I'd say no, but it really doesn't matter. Plenty of independent bottlers own their own distilleries these days, such as Gordon & MacPhail with Benromach and Adelphi with Ardnamurchan, and both of those examples do also bottle their distilleries' single malt under their independent bottling labels. In this case Cadenhead's are allocated just one cask of each of J&A Mitchell's four single malt brands; Kilkerran, Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow, per year. Most are bottled as part of the 'Authentic Collection' which is the series of single cask bottlings that are exclusive to the Cadenhead's stores, particularly the flagship store in Campbeltown, down the road from Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries. In fact most of these bottlings are pre-sold to Cadenhead's VIP customers before they're even officially released, but that's another story! I've only been lucky enough to visit Campbeltown once, back in 2018, so I obviously didn't purchase this 2021-bottling from said shop. It was an auction purchase, and while not exactly cheap - around $270 AUD once DHL and Australian Customs had had their way with me - it's not unreasonable considering the rarity of such a thing. Is it worth the extra ~$100 over the 8-year old Cask Strength official bottlings (OBs) here in Australia? That's a tough question. But it's different to those, and it's also delicious, which is the main criteria. 

I'm sure Kilkerran single malt needs no introduction if you're reading this review, but that may change when it comes time to talk about Glengyle Distillery. The "newest" of the three operating distilleries in Campbeltown when it opened back in 2004, this was the first "new" Campbeltown distillery to be built in over 130 years. Note the quotation marks in that sentence though, which has nothing to do with the three new Campbeltown distilleries that are in the planning stages. I've used quotation marks there because Glengyle Distillery was actually reopened after a hiatus of nearly 80-years, on the same site as the original which ran from 1872-1925. Having housed a number of different business ventures during that slumber - it was even a rifle range at one point - and having since fallen into disrepair, it took nearly 4-years after the site was purchased to get the distillery up & running. Going even further, the current owner of J&A Mitchell, Mr. Hedley Wright, is the great-nephew of the founder of Glengyle Distillery, William Mitchell, who along with his brother John had purchased Springbank Distillery in 1837. 35-years later the two brothers had a falling out which resulted in John purchasing his brother's share of Springbank, and William founding Glengyle Distillery just a few hundred metres down the round. 

So the big question is, why isn't Glengyle Distillery's whisky brand named after the distillery? That's because the Glengyle brand was owned by another company whose asking price was too high, so J&A Mitchell decided to go with a regional brand name instead. The original settlement at Campbeltown was named "Kinloch Kilkerran" in Gaelic, which roughly translates to "Head of the Loch by the Church of Saint Ciaran" in English. Glengyle is a more modern & more conventional distillery than its older brother Springbank, with only two stills that are heated by internal steam coils and are fitted with shell & tube condensers. Aside from a few experimental distillation runs, Kilkerran single malts are "only" double distilled, and the majority of spirit production - which is a tiny amount - uses lightly peated malt that is floor-malted down the road at Springbank. The exception there is Kilkerran Heavily Peated, which now uses commercially malted barley sourced from Inverness shire. There have also been some experimental triple distilled releases, mostly bottled for the Campbeltown Festival / Kilkerran Open Day, but it's unlikely they'll ever be permanent given the distillery's tiny output and the reduced yield that comes with triple distillation. 

The Cadenhead's bottling of Kilkerran single malt that we're looking at today is an 11-year old single cask that was distilled in 2009, was fully matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, and was bottled in early 2021 at a cask strength of 56.5% ABV. As with all J&A Mitchell-owned single malts it's non-chill filtered and natural colour. I'm a massive fan of ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown whisky regardless of distillery, and a 100% ex-bourbon cask Kilkerran isn't as easy to find as you might expect. The 12-year old, 16-year old, and Heavily Peated all contain some sherry casks to varying degrees, so the only (relatively) readily-available example would be the recent 8-year old Cask Strength 2023 release that is yet to arrive in Australia. The first three or four batches of 8-year old Cask Strength Kilkerran (bottled late 2018 and earlier) were ex-bourbon though, and they were fantastic. Let's see how this older example fares!

Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11-year old, 56.5%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. Lightly peated, distilled 2009, matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, bottled 2021. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Lovely. Waxy, mineral, acidic. Fresh candle wax, hessian sacking cloth (i.e. bung cloth), warm waffle cones without the ice cream. Freshly squeezed pineapple juice (the real stuff), touches of lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, salted fatty cured meats, and dry seashells. Dried mango skins, candied lemon peel & packed earth barn floors (with straw covering) with more time, plus a puff of ashy peat smoke.

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, waxy, sweeter than the nose but still quite acidic. No heat. 

Taste: More lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, fresh candle wax, and that acidic pineapple juice. A nice light helping of dry ashy peat smoke now. Slight flash of rich vanilla bean custard (think creme brulee). Packed earth barn floors with straw covering again, candied lemon peel, and sweetened malt biscuits. Dry seashells and clean machine oils heading into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. More malt biscuits & freshly squeezed pineapple juice, candle wax, melted salted butter. Touches of white pepper & bitter woody herbs. Flashes of vanilla bean custard again but fleeting. More dry seashells and hessian cloth / sacking towards the end. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Very close to a 4.5, though. 

Notes: Right in my wheelhouse, this one. Absolutely love this style of whisky; oily, mineral/maritime, acidic & malty in equal measures. Ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown malts seem to excel at this profile, and I can't get enough of it. Take the recent 55.9% ex-bourbon Springbank 12 Cask Strength for example, and also the excellent Talisker 8-year old from 2018 - albeit with more sweetness and more wood influence in that example. It's worth noting that I've had this bottle open for nearly just over 6-months now, and it's become slightly smokier, more acidic and a little drier over that time. The green fruitiness (melon rind, as I recall) and vanilla that were there have receded substantially, but it's still dynamic, even after that time open this Kilkerran can't sit still. It's still changing in the glass, even after the usual 10-minute resting period after pouring. Which is a wonderful thing!

I'd say this 11-year old Cadenhead's bottling is noticeably less cask-forward than those ex-bourbon official Kilkerran 8-year old releases from a few years ago. While I wouldn't exactly call those cask driven and while I love both styles, this 11-year old feels more on the oxidative and interactive side of maturation rather than the additive side. More spirit driven, maybe a little more divisive. And just as delicious!

Cheers!