Cadenhead's Springbank 11-Year Old & Cadenhead's Kilkerran 8-Year Old Whisky Reviews!

Two semi-independent Cadenhead's bottlings from Campbeltown, an 11-year old ex-bourbon cask Springbank from the "Original Collection" at 46%, and an 8-year old sherry cask Kilkerran from the "Authentic Collection" at 59.5% - which is heavily peated!

Springbank Distillery, Glengyle Distillery (producing Kilkerran whisky), and independent bottler WM Cadenhead's are all owned by the same company, Campbeltown's J&A Mitchell. Cadenhead's are allocated one cask per year from each of the company's single malt whisky brands; Springbank, Longrow, Hazelburn, and Kilkerran. Cadenhead's are the oldest independent bottler in Scotland, originally founded in 1842 in Aberdeen on the east coast, passing through different hands before being acquired by J&A Mitchell in the 1970s, and subsequently being relocated to Campbeltown. For many years the original Campbeltown store was home to the famous Springbank "Cage" and the "Living Casks" demijohns, but both were relocated to the Springbank Distillery shop a few years ago, leaving the original shop dedicated to Cadenhead's' own products. There are also Cadenhead's shops in Edinburgh and London, although a few years ago there were six Cadenhead's franchises in mainland Europe. In mid-2022 the company announced that these six stores would no longer be Cadenhead's franchises, and they were required to have all signage and associations removed by mid-2023. It's always sad to see a company make this sort of move, particularly one that isn't large enough to buy out their franchise owners, which leaves those owners on their own after many years of loyal support and brand-building. Obviously this move didn't win Cadenhead's any new fans in Europe, and it happened around the same time as the company dropped the majority of cask strength bottlings from their range, switching to 46.0% ABV for most releases save for the Cadenhead's shop-exclusive bottlings and some of the limited releases. 

The Springbank that we have here is an 11-year old that was matured in an ex-bourbon cask and bottled in January 2023, and it's one of the very few Cadenhead's Springbanks to be bottled at "only" 46% ABV. There's nothing wrong with 46% ABV as a strength of course, but since that change mentioned above that figure attracts controversy when discussing Cadenhead's bottlings. That's because up until early 2022 they bottled almost everything at cask strength - well, almost all of the single malt, anyway. Fans of the brand will remember the Small Batch bottlings of single malt & single grain with the black labels or the gold labels for the single cask bottlings, both of which were always cask strength. These used to be the entry-level Cadenhead's independent bottlings which then gave way to the "Original Collection" with the grey labels, which are all diluted down to 46% ABV. Essentially they replaced their widely available cask strength range with 46.0%, and now the only way to purchase a Cadenhead's bottling at cask strength was to source one of the "Authentic Collection" bottles that are only sold at Cadenhead's' own stores, or the occasional "Enigma" mystery bottling or limited release. The three remaining Cadenhead's company-owned stores are the only physical stores where you can purchase Cadenhead's at cask strength, while the company supplies the Cadenhead's Club members directly through their own website. Unlike the Springbank Society which closed to new members during the pandemic, the Cadenhead's Club is still operating, offering lifetime membership for a £75 GBP fee which gets you early access to their releases, plus the occasional exclusive bottling - provided you're in a country that they can ship to. Membership also gets you two free tastings per year, provided you can get to either Campbeltown or London to attend those tastings. 

The second example that we have here is a heavily peated 8-year old Kilkerran that was matured in an ex-Oloroso sherry butt and bottled in April 2024. While they're both very much Campbeltown malts, Kilkerran (from Glengyle Distillery) is obviously quite a different spirit to Springbank, being "only" double distilled and in more modern & conventional equipment than its older stablemate. That difference is more pronounced when it comes to the heavily peated Kilkerrans, which unlike the standard lightly peated spirit is distilled from commercially malted barley sourced from the mainland - only the first batch of Heavily Peated was distilled from barley floor-malted at Springbank, subsequent batches of spirit were distilled from mainland peated malt. This Cadenhead's release is a single cask labelled as "Natural Strength", 59.5% ABV in this case, which makes it part of the Authentic Collection. This is only the second heavily peated Kilkerran that Cadenhead's have bottled to date, with the first example being exclusive to the company's Campbeltown store, and it's one of the oldest age-stated heavily peated Kilkerrans we've seen. This is one of the few heavily peated Kilkerrans to be matured solely in ex-sherry casks, with most official bottlings predominantly using ex-bourbon casks with a smaller proportion of ex-sherry. The only official example I can think of is the Online Tasting Week 5-year old special release from 2021, which was a small batch of 1,300 bottles. This Cadenhead's single cask seems to be a refill Oloroso sherry butt, with a yield of 606 bottles, which should be a bit more measured in cask influence than the Online Tasting Week. 

Both of these samples came from a generous fellow whisky nerd over in New Zealand, who I finally had the pleasure of meeting at DramFest earlier this year. Which was a brilliant event by the way. Let's get into these samples!

Cadenhead's Springbank 11-year old, 46.0% ABV. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Cadenhead's "Original Collection", ex-bourbon casks, bottled January 2023. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Medium gold. 

Nose: Clean, fresh, and zesty. Green apple, sweet & sharp lemon curd, aniseed. Golden malted barley and a little chalky minerality. Mint chocolate (spearmint?) around the edges. Touches of dried flowers, hessian sacking, and white pepper. Muddy / earthy clay notes building slightly with more time but subtle, still quite clean overall. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, malty, lightly spicy. No heat. 

Taste: Malty, oily, clean. Malted barley again with a drizzle of honey now. Spearmint milk chocolate, muddy & earthy notes again, but clean/fresh - modelling clay? Lemon oil, touch of marzipan, white pepper. 

Finish: Short length. Chalky minerality & that modelling clay carry over, plus a little lemon oil & runny honey. White pepper again. Slight touch of vanilla & marzipan cake icing to finish. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Only just. 

Notes: The cleaner & lighter style of Springbank that isn't often seen in official bottlings. Probably more associated with Hazelburn these days in fact. But younger ex-bourbon Springbanks can show this lighter & cleaner side on occasion, and it's no bad thing! In fact there are shades of the 1980s 8-year old Japanese bottling (reviewed here) in this 11-year old, albeit with a little more body in this modern example which is probably down to the higher ABV of 46% over 43% - both are non-chill filtered. The finish does fall over quite quickly in this one, but it's a nice easy-drinking Springbank that won't be too challenging for anyone. However, I wouldn't be paying more for it than the regular 10yo official bottling, and the secondary pricing on this one seems to be a little silly...

Cadenhead's Kilkerran 8-year old Heavily Peated, 59.5% ABV. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Distilled 2015, matured in single ex-Oloroso sherry butt, bottled April 2024. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 606 bottles. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Dirty, fatty, herbal, intense. Fatty uncooked smoked bacon, hay, lemon peel, Terry's chocolate orange! Burnt herbs, old rubber, greasy farmyard machinery. Power saw lubricant. Grassy & greasy smoke, damp rock pools, sheep's wool. A very eclectic collection of big flavours, but it works! 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Smoky, fatty, herbal. No heat. 

Taste: Sweet & smoky, fatty & herbal. Bacon grease, clean rubber, ashy peat, mixed berry syrup. Sheep's wool, machine oils, greasy rags. Dried oranges. Runny honey. Bonkers! 

Finish: Medium-long length. Candied orange peel, berry syrup, greasy & oily rags, new carpet. Burnt herbs. Runny honey, black pepper, new rubber, burnt bacon grease. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Absolutely crazy dram! The "standard" heavily peated Kilkerrans can also be a little crazy at times, but this Cadenhead's bottling takes it to the next level. It works, just in a crazy Campbeltown way with a fascinating combination of flavours & aromas. Plenty of complexity for a relatively young age like most 8-year old Kilkerrans to date, and it hides the ABV quite well. I do wonder where Kilkerran Heavily Peated will go from here, it certainly doesn't seem to need more age than this, even the (generally) younger official bottlings rarely seem immature. In fact some of these young releases are outshining some of the standard lightly peated releases, which I didn't think would happen so quickly. Heavily peated Kilkerran is definitely one to watch! 

The concept behind these Cadenhead's independent bottlings from Springbank & Glengyle (Kilkerran) still has me slightly conflicted. When the official bottlings of single malt are already naturally presented (no colouring or chill filtering, good ABV) and are extremely flavourful with plenty of variety in the range, the need for independent bottlings isn't really there. Even more so when the independent bottler is owned by the distillery or vice versa - much like Adelphi bottlings of Ardnamurchan or Signatory bottlings of Edradour, it's a little confusing. But when the independent bottler, regardless of ownership, can still present a different style and/or an unusual flavour profile compared to the official bottlings, like Cadenhead's has with these two examples, that's more than enough reason for me!

Cheers!