Color: Chardonnay with thin legs around the glass.
Nose: Beautiful distant sweet peat... Definitely more pronounced than the 12yo. Cookie dough, moist lemon pound cake and mandarin peel. Vanilla and nutmeg... After adding a few drops of water: Sigg alumin(i)um water bottles, gasoline, lemon grass and cream soda.
Palate: Hot at cask strength... Dry dirt, rock salt and lemon zest. Crystallized ginger and young rum. Water works much better on the palate: Lightly toasted oak, dry soot and cayenne pepper flakes. Under brewed black tea... Musty, chalky and spicy. Very much reminds me taking a tour in a dunnage warehouse. Damp, moldy and filled with moist black soil aromas.
Finish: Long with fresh ginger, lemon slices and white pepper.
Overall: If you tasted before Kilkerran 12yo and try to imagine what an eight year old cask strength expression from the same distillery would taste like you wouldn't be far off... It is less balanced (which is not a bad quality in my book...), edgier and definitely requires more attention and time to enjoy. Do I like it? I loved it... A great addition to the line-up. If you are not familiar with the distillery it is probably not the bottle you want to start with. In that case I would recommend the 12yo first since it is more approachable, less challenging and more balanced but after that if you want to take an alternative road you should definitely give a shot to this cask strength beauty... I hope that we will see differences in batches in coming years so we can compare and be excited for the next batch to be released. Highly recommended especially for the ex-bourbon cask lovers like myself...
Price: $85
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