Kilkerran week has gone very well so far. It started on Monday with Batch 6 of the Heavily Peated, which was in line with the high quality of Batch 4 and Batch 5. It continued on Wednesday with one of the 15 yo casks released in 2019 to mark the distillery’s 15th anniversary. That was the bourbon cask released in the UK. Here now is another of those commemorative 15 yo casks. This one was released in the Danish market and has a somewhat unusual composition. The spirit in it spent 10 years in a port pipe before being put into a refill bourbon hogshead for another five. (There were three of these port–>refill bourbon casks, by the way: another one went to Germany and the third to Italy.) Normally, in the case of double-matured malts you see the first maturation in bourbon casks before the spirit hits the cask that held the much heavier spirit. Well, if the results are good I guess it doesn’t really matter in what order the maturation happened. Let’s see if that is indeed the case here.

Kilkerran 15, 2004 (51.2%; port+bourbon hogshead for Denmark; from a bottle split)

Nose: A little musty to start and then there’s a fair bit of salt and raisins soaked in a mix of brandy and balsamic vinegar. With more time the musty oak (now with damp leaves on top) expands and there’s a vegetal/capsaicin note as well. With a lot more time there’s some dried orange peel and the damp oak backs off a bit. With water the raisins get more of a say as well.

Palate: A mix of earthy peat and damp oak and leaves to start; and then the salt shows up followed by cracked pepper. Gets quite bitter as I swallow. Feels hotter than the abv would indicate (that’s the oak grip at work); decent texture. On the second sip there’s sourness in the background that suggests sulphur. Nothing of note emerges as it sits. Okay, let’s add water. As on the nose, water pushes the oak and sour notes back and brings out orange peel and the raisins.

Finish: Long. The bitter oak and salt take their time; the salt has the last word. As on the nose and palate with water, with some roasted malt as well at the very end (less salt too now).

Comments: This did not grab me at first sniff or sip and I’m sorry to say it didn’t really come along so very well after that either. I’m guessing the port cask it was in for the first 10 years was way too active and the transfer to refill bourbon was with an eye to toning down the oak. Or did the last five years in the bourbon hogshead bring the oak? Whichever it was, taken neat, this is not a well-balanced whisky and the fruit and the Kilkerran character that shone through in the bourbon cask for the UK is mostly covered up. Drinkable enough but nothing special at all. Water improves things, but even so, the Danes really got the short end of the stick here.

Rating: 84 points. (Pulled up dramatically with water.)