Kilkerran Work in Progress 7 Sherry

Obviously the Work in Progress 7 also exists in a sherry matured version. This was bottled at drinking strength and 12.000 bottles were released. It appeared in 2015, so the WIP8 (or finally a standard bottling of Kilkerran) will not be long now.

A dark nose with mild soot notes, upholstered with wonderfully sweet fruit. Think oranges and strawberries. Some walnuts too. But also some… errr… motor oil. Weird, but very nice. There are hardly any spices. A bit of cinnamon in the background maybe. After a few moments, I also get some bubblegum, but it is not disturbing at all.

Nicely oily on the palate and very spicy now, but immediately with a big bitterness. Ginger? Seville oranges for sure and some raisins. Pipe tobacco, rhubarb and nuts. I quite like this.

The finish is fairly long on orange zest and a hint of espresso. Nice!

You can get this for around 50 EUR. The difference with the WIP6 is insignificant, so let’s get this stuff on the market as the new core bottling, eh? Personally, I do prefer the bourbon matured Kilkerran.

Update: on 12th Augustus 2016 the standard Kilkerran 12 Year Old will be released.