Glengyle Open Day: Tour and Kilkerran Warehouse Tasting

Let’s jump straight in with a GEEK ALERT!

• Glengyle’s mill came from Craigellachie, but most of the equipment [stills, condensers, spirit safe etc.], came from the defunct Ben Wyvis complex, the lot bought for £300000.
• Scandinavian larch washbacks see a [on average] 100 hour long fermentation. Our tour guide claims the wooden washbacks add character to the spirit. He’s not alone.
• Glengyle’s most significant taste-changer, aside from the phenols and many other variations & experiments since Glengyle’s reopening in 2004, is the 7 degree inclined lyne arm. Springbank’s lyne arm by comparison sports a 7 degree decline.

• 74-58 cut points.
• Last year Glengyle produced around 80000 litres in only 12 weeks of production. Kilkerran is to be kept a rarity – not intended to flood the market in quantity – so there is no intention to increase production at this time.

 

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Kilkerran Warehouse Tasting Friday 24th May, 4pm

Now a mock warehouse, we are standing where Glengyle’s original malt barn would have been. Our host is Grant McPherson who has worked for Springbank for 20 years.

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 2006/2019 13yo Un-Ob. First-fill bourbon cask sample 54%

This is one of Glengyle’s triple distilled experiments. It’s from this cask that Drambusters bottled a 12yo Kilkerran earlier in the year WB80.75[4]

• N: Light, fresh and fruity, the bourbon cask fairly prominent.
• T: There’s Kilkerran’s unique phenol character coupled with a huge bourbon resinousness.
• F: Butyric bourbon fruitiness.
• C: Somewhat basic but tasty. That cask however has become way too loud.

Scores 80 points

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 2004/2019 15yo Un.Ob Bourbon cask sample #380 54.6% [WB]85[7]

This is one of the first six casks Glengyle filled in 2004.

• N: With more first-fill cask suspicions again, this one is more farmy than the 2006 vintage with a nice oiliness.
• T: Prominent farmy phenols with something of a citric-flavoured floor cleaner note that I find troubling, and that cask is certainly firm.
• F: Butyric fauna-green bitter-ish sour bourbon prominence again, but water certainly helps.
• C: Those bleeding bourbon casks! Little joy here.

Scores 80 points

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 2004/2019 Un-Ob. Madeira cask sample #378 53% [WB]85.10[12]

Another one of the Glengyle’s first six casks filled. You’ll get a similar experience at Bruichladdich with their first Octomore experiments. This early vintage spent 10 years in Madeira with a further 6 in bourbon.

• N: Madeira is one of the distinct cask styles I’m getting used to picking out. A light farmy huskiness joins the frame.
• T: A tasty soft-yet-thick sweetness ensues whilst the bourbon cask becomes boisterous.
• F: Despite being a touch cask resinous & butyric, there’s also a nice huskiness at the finish.
• C: It’s clear that these early casks have now become largely academic.

Scores 81 points

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 2004/2019 15yo Un-Ob. Cask sample #382 53.7%

Another one of Glengyle’s first six casks, this one spending 10 years in rum before another 5 years in bourbon.

• N: In the face of bourbon cask adversity, delicate fruits emerge.
• T: The cask is on the offensive, once again.
• F: Coppery metallic & butyric.
• C: Displeasing.

Scores 78 points

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 8yo [2019] Un-Ob. Bourbon – sherry cask sample 56%

• C: Not overly exciting but certainly a better whisky than what’s gone before. This cask will be part of an official Kilkerran release in November.

Scores 84 points

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 3yo [2019] Un-Ob. [batch 2] cask sample abv unknown

The barley used here came to the Springbank at 74ppm – too much for them – so it was passed onto Glengyle. Apparently this cask will also be released at the end of 2019.

• N: Everyone immediately loves this distillate-led young bitter sour lemon scented whisky – hello!
• T: Those lemon-scented bleaches have a lot to answer for!
• F: Biting sour citric spirit, arguably a little mezcal-like.
• C: Good ‘work in progress’ whisky, but this is still very young.

Scores 78 points

 

A very interesting tasting that. With thanks to Grant

In the cue for the Cooley, Calam gives me a wee snifter of the port cask-matured Kilkerran [also one of Glengyle’s first 6 casks ever filled], poured at the expensive Glengyle Distillery Dinner. That collection of the first 6 casks also included a fino cask we didn’t get to try. “This is the best of the bunch” says Calam. 

 

{Glengyle] Kilkerran 2004/2019 Un-Ob. Port cask sample abv unknown

• C: This one is also cask-led, but the port cask in question is delicious. I like port!

I provisionally score it 84 points.

 

 

And that’s it for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2019. We head home via a number of lowland distilleries – info to follow.

 

Further reading:

• https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/1859/glengyle/#/

 

 

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