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Ripe. no missing grades. Headstrong. I love it.

A whisky with a delicious Campbeltown funk. Sherry and rum are not immediately noticeable and that is good. A delicious maritime bitter!

Classical Campbeltown, a lot of funk besides some great fruitiness and also a light peat. The cask influence is not too big, so you still can taste the spirit.

Importer's RRP: €92.00 / Many thanks to the greedy German dealers, although there were also some who offered a very good price!

Unsurprisingly, in this vintage the higher sherry content results in darker fruit and makes the dram very balanced. Anyone who prefers the malty tanginess of the predecessors might be disappointed. Depending on my mood, I would choose one or the other. A great, lively standard. It's nice that there's variety here from year to year thanks to the different barrel proportions.

I like the balanced mix of tobacco, (good) leather and good level sweetness - very nice

I'm a Kilkerran lover, that's a fact. So maybe I'm a bit to enthusiastic about this new Kilkerran 16 release. After tasting it; this is great stuff!! Sweet, smoke, salty (hmm, a bit like Talisker..?), dry, fruity (apple and peer). There are some sweet, fruity notes (maybe??) from the rumcasks. Borderline 90 points for me.

Strongly fruity, apples, pears, plums, pineapple, ginger, a bit of smoke, a dying fire, sea, vanilla, honey, wood, cellar. Semi-sweet, medium to long finish, drinkable.

This is my rating for this whisky.

Delicious funky dram.

Fifth and, in this blog, last day of the Campbeltown Malts Festival. Tomorrow we're heading over to the Isle of Islay for the Fèis Ìle. I have already tasted Kilkerran 16 here. The bottling at that time was from 2021 and was matured in 75% ex-bourbon and 25% ex-sherry. Two years later, the batch appears in a completely different composition. Here, 60% ex-sherry dominates, then comes 35% ex-bourbon and there are also 5% ex-rum casks, which hopefully cannot have too much influence. At the beginning of 2024, the whisky will cost between €100 and €110, which is a reasonably acceptable price in the Springbank cosmos. The whisky is quite light in color, so it is unlikely to be a 1st fill sherry. The Glengyle Distillery will only be operated for a short time each year, when the Springbank team moves over to Glengyle during routine maintenance at the distillery. And why not just have a longer production period, given the notorious shortage of whisky from both distilleries? The limiting factor for the production of Springband and Glengyle is the available amount of malt, which is produced entirely on the company's own malt floors. glen-efze.de

Tar, wet chalk, yeast dough, apple juice, funnel seeds, nutmeg, white pepper and the signature citrus notes.

21 21+ 21+ 21+ 85+ Only 5% rum can be felt. Ok, the rum is not bad, but the corporate style has disappeared (... This 16-year-old wants Springbang more) Everything is good, and there are more points, but 12 is more to my liking. Nicely licked whisky, somehow... Great pop.

Brilliant!

Before this i had Speyburn 18 and Ancnoc 18, very sherried and very delicious. Lots of soft smoke, nuttiness, barley and campbeltown funk. I absolute love this, it aligns perfect with my pallet and i can sip this slow and truly enjoy the flavours! Will do a more in dept review, just anxious to share my love for this bottle. Strongly recommend

I had the 2022 edition in my glass at the same time and had to smile a little when I read my notes on the predecessor again: “If you really want to find a fly in the ointment: a little bit of dirt would do you a lot of good.” Tada, here we are. At least a bit. And that's actually good for him. Things get messy at Springbank/Glengyle, especially when sherry casks are involved. What's fascinating is that even a comparatively high proportion of 60% sherry casks doesn't make it a "dirty pig".

Half a year ago, I tasted this release, and I didn't really like it. But as with all Campbelltowns - it takes time and patience. That's why I suddenly bought a bottle later. And I must say, everything here is potentially more interesting than it seemed. Nicely balanced, buttery, malty and multi-layered. I am glad I bought it, and I will return to it from time to time.

A lovely soft dram with lots of fruit, sweetness and fresh spices.

I understand that sherry casks are refilled here, because blindly I would have thought that bourbons prevail here. Pretty much all typical of a mature Kilkerran - vanilla custard, toffee, chalk, lemon curd, shortbread, honey, vanilla yoghurt. Good Campbelltown, but I didn't find anything interesting for me in this batch.

At 16 years old, it's a fairly mature, complex whisky that I like in its particular form.

It's striking how the smoke becomes firmer and firmer from the nose to the aftertaste. A complex, fairly subdued but beautifully composed malt.

Not bad, but too many wooden tones for me.

Solid malt, unfortunately nothing that will knock your socks off. On the second day I like it much better, but it remains a rock-solid malt with no unique selling point; in other words, it still doesn't blow my socks off. Notes from a blind tasting. Really? Kilkerran? It's very disappointing. And only 46%? I would have had it at well over 50%. But then the alcohol is very poorly integrated, and for 46% it burns quite well.

An interestingly made and drinkable whisky. The nose is hardly smoky, or it's very far... Bourbon + herbs + cream + minerals + shell. Everything is nice and even without pressure. The taste is completely transparent, like heavily diluted whisky, without body! It is even difficult to get something out of it... The finish is oaky, tasty and chewy, with a slight smokiness. Somehow everything is strange and a little out of balance. But it is definitely very drinkable! Nose -22 Taste - 20 Finish - 21 Balance -21 Rating - 84

Updated 2024: In comparison with the 2022 bottling, it is still - for me - the more successful bottling. The rum content simply makes it even rounder and more complex. I love this refill profile, which doesn't overpower the distillate but rather supports it. Salty biscuits, lemon and cheesecake with a hint of smoke. After a year, I still have no complaints about this whisky and am particularly pleased with this batch.

tasty dram - solid cask mix. Not killed by wet barrel aging. I'm missing something in terms of age (and/or a unique selling point)

Tasting : 2026 July Kilkerran possesses a distinct character and a well-balanced flavor profile. Despite its 46% ABV, it offered a wonderfully appealing sense of volume on the palate.

In direct comparison with the 2022 bottling, it appears a little rounder, less aggressive and also tastes a little older. The higher sherry content means more honey tones come through, and the maltiness in combination with citrus fruits is impressive (as is the case with the 2022 bottling). I really like the 16-year-old from 2023, also because the four extra years make it a little more complex and the smoke stays a little more in the background and accompanies the whole thing. The barrel combination is very successful. It is also interesting that both batches do not differ in color or are barely visible, which speaks for the high proportion of refill barrels and thus does not suffocate the distillate.

A very good batch.

More sherry dirtiness than earlier batches. Plum, sour cherry, raisins, some grassy notes and green banana from the rum casks. A pinch of peppery sulfur in the finish. Nice one, but I really do prefer ex bourbon maturation on pretty much all Kilkerran expressions

For my palette a huge improvement over past years 16 year old. Love the earthy peat notes and the waxiness. Lovely winter dram.

Way Back When The Kilkerran 16 year old is the malt with the oldest age statement they have. Great to think that they already have a 16 year old while I can still remember the opening of the distillery as big news way back when. We're getting old(er). It is a cask of 60% sherry, 35% bourbon and 5% rum barrels of matured malt. And even though it's the third time it's been in the glass, I hadn't discussed it before. I would like to correct that today, because this is an excellent single malt! Wonderfully old school nose on leather, slate and olives, but also yellow stone fruit and mirabelles, cookie dough and canned peach. As I've come to expect from Kilkerran, a bit dirty in a good way. Soft peat and woodsmoke go perfectly hand-in-hand here. Delicious. Yes, this one comes in nicely. Oily and quite punchy, almost boozy, on notes of yellow fruit, stone fruit, salt and pepper, oak, chewing tobacco, mirabelles, raisins and some notes of tannin without being drying. And even some sweeter notes that I associate with rum. Well done. Even reminds me a bit of the Springbank 15 Year Old, imagine (though slightly sweeter). Nice! The aftertaste is medium-long on salt and pepper, but also honey and leather. Citrus on the deathbed. What an incredibly good whisky this is (if you like this profile). And quite affordable with a price tag of around EUR 100. Funny detail: the importers are listed on the back label and The Nectar from Zolder is at the top.

Loved the 12 so I bought this when I was in Campbeltown. Straw color. Not expensive but overall not worth paying more for it. I like the 12 better than this.

Sampled at a festival. Lightly peated. Very fruity. Heavier compared to the 2022 release.

not what they call a regular winter dram, but this 2023 edition of kilkerran 16 is a real heart warmer.. with its odd combination of sherry, bourbon and rum, it steps in the footsteps of cask fiddling of its older Springbank 21 cousins.. it looks like the style of cask manipulation for the Kk16’s is more minimalistic and more distillate driven and i enjoy this style immensely.. i call it spicy cinnamon over lemon juice-drizzled cheese cake.. also, not sure if it’s just in my head (of course it is) but i can reaally feel the rum, sweet and coconut-y, especially in the finish.. great special-not-special dram!

Much better than last edition, you feel like it's more than 46% alcohol. Distillate, rum and sherry can be felt. Earthy, traces of smoke, actually an old-style gentleman with modern finishes. Probably 94 points at cask strength

I love Kilkerran and am very happy about this cracker. The fact that there is a slightly different version every year isn't a problem at all; it's what makes it so appealing. More steam would have resulted in a lot more points... What a wonderful distillate.

For me good value for money at todays market... just hope so it will keeps quality in the future

Aroma Some smoke, fruity maritime, salt The taste Smoke, sweet, maritime, spicy, salt Resonance Long, spicy, sweet, slightly astringent