SHE SAID: Of all the Scotland whisky regions, I will wager from an enthusiast perspective that, this one is the least well known or appreciated. Why do I think that? Well, for one thing: the majority of my whisky friends DO NOT have any of these as part of their collection. Two: Forget ordering one of these at a local watering establishment. Three: They don’t seem “popular” or streamline. Have you guessed which region I’m alluding to yet?
Campbeltown is located at the end of the Kintyre peninsula. Paul McCartney owns a farm near there (could explain the song!?) And the last bit of personal trivia: My hometown in NB, Campbellton, is also named after the same person: Sir Archibald Campbell - Earl of Argyle, coincidence, I think not?)
Ok, back to being serious: At the height of the whisky boom, this small town was home to 34 distilleries which is why it considered itself the world’s whisky capital but poor product quality and hard economic times saw most of the distilleries closing down by the 1930’s.
When we started our tasting society back in 2010, it was with the purpose that we share our love of whisky with like minded people and ensure our membership get to try whiskies from every nook and cranny of the world. So, we decided that our first led tasting should appropriately be: An introduction to the six regions of Scotland (what our society recognizes): Islands, Islay, Highland, Speyside, Lowland and Campbeltown. At the time (Dec/10) the only Campbeltown that was locally available was Glen Scotia 1992, MacPhails collection.
Hardly anyone enjoyed it. It finished dead last in the evening’s ranking (3 votes) and some went as far as to tell us they thought it was an unpopular Canadian single malt (which I won’t name); fairly disappointing to say the least. Graham’s dad has a Springbank 10 in his personal collection, which he allowed us to sample many years ago. With only three working distilleries remaining and little access to silent distillery stock, getting to try anything from Campbeltown was starting to prove somewhat difficult. We’d go to whisky events seeking out more bottles from this little region but would come out empty handed. So that was it. I had only tasted two small drams from such a region steeped in history. Future tastings of Campbeltown’s started to look pretty bleak?? And then salvation!
We discovered a spirits market in a different province and a very nice friend (who travels back and forth for work) who brings home the bottles for us. We quickly began to make a list of many whiskies we wanted to have and this was the first Campbeltown we decided we would try: Mitchell’s Glengyle Kilkerran Works in Progress 2. It arrived in February and sat for the better part of three months (a lifetime for me as I open everything almost immediately!). It wasn’t until I purchased a second bottle that Graham finally agreed to review it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that just before he cut the foil on the neck, he asked: “You’re sure the second bottle is on its way, right?” I didn’t know very much about Kilkerran so decided to do a bit of research. Like most of the distilleries of the 19th century, it is steeped in history and interesting characters, but this one ended up a bit different.
In 1872, as a result of a massive fight with his brother John (over sheep apparently?!) with whom he co-owned the Springbank distillery, a farmer named William Mitchell began to build his own distillery and called it Glengyle.
In 1924 due to hard economic times and the aftermath of WW1, it (like the majority of distilleries in the town) did not survive and was sold for the sum of £300. All of the stock/equipment was auctioned off in Glascow a year later. Over the years, it changed hands several times with many failed attempts at reopening it as a distillery. In 2000, the great-great nephew of William Mitchell, Mr. Hedley Wright, purchased the derelict buildings with the intention of refurbishing and starting up a distillery again. Strangely enough, he heads J&A Mitchell Ltd., owners of the nearby distillery, Springbank. After four long years of painstakingly rebuilding the distillery from nothing but the shell of the buildings on site, in March of 2004 production resumed. 
Glengyle is the first distillery to open in Campbeltown in 125 years. Not one item of the machinery or original production plant remains. Their claim to fame could easily be: Scotland’s newest old distillery (I like that!). What I found fascinating about the refurbishment was that they incorporated a very unique design. The process from start to finish can be seen together on one platform. At one end: Mash tun, then spirit safe and four wash backs then the stills and condenser at the other end. Brilliant design!
According to their website: www.kilkerran.com, they decided to call their single malt Kilkerran for two reasons: 1. It is quite unusual for a Campbeltown to use “Glen” as that apparently denotes a whisky from the Speyside Region and also, there is already a blended whisky called Glengyle on the market. Therefore they chose to name it after a church in a small village near Campbeltown. Derived from ‘Cille Chiarain' (Gaelic for - The church of St Ciarán). St. Ciarán was one of the 12 apostles of Ireland who spent a lot of time in that area in a religious cell further round the coast. Ironically the cave was much later used by smugglers shipping out illicit whisky from the town. So far, Glengyle has released Works in Progress 1 is 2009, Works in Progress 2 in 2010 and a Works in Progress 3 in 2011 and they will continue with that type of release until 2016 where their first full release, a 12 years old, is expected.
And so travel back with me to our kitchen table in May of 2012 where in our traditional way of doing our nosing/tastings we have grabbed: Proper glassware, tasting journals, pens, water and cameras. We then ensured a quiet and uninterrupted session. In case you don’t know: we don’t speak, we don’t share any information with each other and our entire experience is done independently of the other. Often we are excited and surprised that our nosing/tasting notes are so closely related, sometimes right down to the same terminology.
All in all, for what we paid for it ($70 or roughly £40), I would rate this quite highly for the age and value. I quickly compared it to my Talisker 10 which is almost the same price and although it’s not as heavy, it’s just as nice of a dram. I plan on bringing it to a friend’s house this Friday night and will serve it blind to see what they think. I look forward to trying other whiskies from this very distinct region and hope you will consider trying a dram if it’s offered or available near you.
Nosing/tasting notes:
Kilkerran Works in Progress 2 (6 year old), bottled at 46%AVB. Non-chill filtered and no color added, Glengyle Distillery, Campbeltown
Color: Golden yellow with a pinch of bronze, very nice hue. Legs are skinny but plentiful, you can see it’s a bit viscous and somewhat slow.
Nose: Acetone at first, then pine needles (oily?). I get almond paste at the front then turns to floral in nature (not perfume just sweet). With water added, it opened to clean cereal and once it sat for a while a bit salty with a touch of new leather which surprised me.
Palate: Peppery with a bit of peat, oily mouth feel (not at all drying in nature). A bit of water opened it to vanilla, some cloves working its way to spicier.
Finish: Slightly bitter after taste, very “earthy” in nature (reminded me of pulling carrots in the garden). Medium to long clean finish but the salt lingers.
Empty glass: Stale beer? (Assuming that’s sort of cereal or grassy in nature?)
Finish: Slightly bitter after taste, very “earthy” in nature (reminded me of pulling carrots in the garden). Medium to long clean finish but the salt lingers.
Empty glass: Stale beer? (Assuming that’s sort of cereal or grassy in nature?)
Somewhere on the Campbeltown whisky trail, still smiling :)
Johanne
Good overview of the distillery and region as well as of the dram itself. I have a Hazelburn CV on deck if you'd like a sample...
ReplyDeleteWould love a sample, time for another trade, :)
DeleteWe can talk soon, thanks JF.