KILKERRAN SINGLE MALT
Oloroso Sherry Cask Matured (2024)MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 114.8
AGE – 8 years
DISTILLERY – Glengyle Distillery (J. & A. Mitchell & Co)
PRICE – $99 (more commonly ~$120)
WORTH BUYING? – as a leg on my journey with J. & A. Mitchell & Co’s handful of distilleries, yes
I was introduced to the Kilkerran brand in 2016 by the good people at Sandy Bell’s in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were proud to have a bottle of something from Glengyle Distillery on their bar shelf after some period of absence—since 1925! Glengyle had not been operational for 75 years when J. & A. Mitchell & Co. took it up in 2000. The bottle Sandy Bell’s was happy at last to see was the standard Kilkerran 12 Year release, and must have been the inaugural batch given distillation at the newly refurbished facility had resumed in 2004. After tasting it, I jotted down only a brief note at the time:
“Wouldn’t go out of my way for it, wouldn’t turn down a glass.”
Clearly I wasn’t yet impressed by whisky history back then.
Given that initial hum-ho impression, it’s been almost a decade since I’ve revisited Kilkerran—this time at home and with this 2024 cask strength release, aged 8 years in Oloroso sherry casks. I later picked up the 2025 Hazelburn 8 Year Oloroso as well, and actually cracked that one first. Intrigued by its industrial sweetness, I wondered how the Hazelburn’s close neighbor—related by proprietorship as well as specs—might compare.
Here we are, two weeks after uncorking the Kilkerran and a handful of pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – dusty pale russet oranges
NOSE – sherry and rich milk chocolate, fresh whole cream, subtle peat and smoke, faint salt and sand
TASTE – sherry, a thick sweet plum syrup, drying oak and sherry tannins, a sharp bite from the ABV
FINISH – sherry, fresh plums and black cherries, very ripe purple wine grapes, chocolate, the peat and smoke
OVERALL – a smoldering sherry bomb
Less industrial and oily than the Hazelburn, and far more sherry-forward, this is a sweet whisky with a sharp bite. I’m a bit surprised by that bite, given cask strength J. & A. Mitchell products tend to wear their ABV well—like the inevitably superlative Springbank 12. Perhaps the ABV and younger age are ganging up to keep the sweetness in check with their combined bluster.
I tried it with a dollop of water. On the nose, very similar, only a notch brighter and the smoke now revealing some charcoal. Then on the taste, the fruity plum and cherry notes make an earlier entrance, having previously held out until the finish. The sherry and drying tannins remain prevalent, tempered just a bit now by the added sweetness. And on the finish: sherry, fruit, tannins, and fleeting wafts of sooty smoke.
As with the Kilkerran 12 Year back in 2016, I wouldn’t go out of my way for this 8 Year again, nor would I turn down a glass. It’s more immediately pleasing overall than its Hazelburn 8 Year neighbor, though notably less interesting. Honestly I’d rather pay a bit more for the Springbank 12 Year, which isn’t so drenched in sherry and offers a dependable balance between its cask aging and ABV.
I need to give Kilkerran another chance, with something less sherry laden. Maybe I’ll try the 12 Year again, now that Glengyle’s stills have been up and running another decade and my palate is that much more developed as well. Or the 16 Year, for something mellowed by even a bit more time. I’ve had a number of sherry bombs this past year—this one, the Hazelburn 8, Edradour’s Caledonia, the Spanish Galveston 12 Year…
…And although I appreciate the fruitiness sherry casks bring to whiskies, when a sherry bomb really explodes, the shrapnel tends to get a bit too one-note for my tastes. Add a biting ABV and I don’t find myself reaching for these bottles often. None of those I’ve named are bad, mind you. Just not entirely for me, the flavor profile to price balance considered. But a sherry bomb fan would love them.
Sláinte!
The Right Spirit 