Let’s start September with a week of Campbeltown whiskies, specifically with three Kilkerrans. First up is Batch 6 of their Heavily Peated series, which is now up to Batch 8. I was unenthused by Batch 1 but then was surprised by how much I liked both Batch 4 and Batch 5, both of which had a lovely mix of smoke and fruit and salt. I’m hoping Batch 6 will continue down that road. It has a different composition than all the earlier release. Batches 1 and 2 had a lot of sherry in the mix, being a vatting of 55% bourbon and 45% sherry casks. Batches 3 and 4 dropped the sherry component to 20% and Batch 5 took it down a notch lower still, being comprised of 85% bourbon cask and 15% sherry cask spirit. With Batch 6 the sherry component ticked up a bit again, but only to 25%. I’m hoping it will be in line with Batch 4 and 5.  Alas, all non-core range Kilkerran is now heavily allocated and not easy to find and Batch 6 is in any case long gone. So this review has very low use value. Why change now?

Kilkerran Heavily Peated, Batch 6 (57.4%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Mineral, slightly rubbery peat with hot tarmac and chilli peppers in the mix. Sweeter on the second sniff. The fruit begins to emerge as it sits (lemon and pineapple, both charred). With more time the lemon turns to citronella. With a few drops of water pepper joins the citronella and there’s some vanilla too now.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose but as I swallow there’s a big swirl of fruit—charred pineapple, preserved lemon, a touch of passionfruit and mango. Hot but approachable at full strength; rich texture. With time the pepper comes out earlier. More pepper and less fruit with water.

Finish: Long. The peat (more peppery here) and the tropical fruit go out together. Soot at the very end at first but with time the charred pineapple lingers as well. Saltier with time. With water there’s more pepper and hot tarmac.

Comments: Very close to Batch 5 but with less of the earthy complex on the nose. Very good to see that the heavy fruit in Batch 5 was not a one-off. I did find a bottle of that one—might look for this as well.

Rating: 88 points.