Ireland’s smallest distillery, Killowen Distillery, has continued their incredibly popular ‘Bonded Experimental Series‘ with release #4 a Peated Islay cask finish whiskey.
Link to purchase here.
As always the whiskeys are unfiltered and produced at cask strength in small batches, with this particular batch producing 398 bottles at cask strength.
According to Brendan, Killowen founder, this cask does not deliver massive cask influence, instead it opts for only a little smokiness and peat, mainly on the late palate and finish.
At Killowen they understand that many whiskey drinkers prefer not to drink peated whiskeys and have therefore, this expression offers just a small peated ‘kiss’ that will satisfy ‘peat heads’ while welcoming those ‘Non-Peat-Heads’ into the fold.
The biggest challenge with this range is maintaining the very high standard of previous releases while making a very different expression.
As always, Killowen utilises the exact same blend across its Bonded Experimental Series. This allows the consumer to take a liquid journey through cask finishing, with the base liquid all being the same and the only variables are the finishing casks.
As always, this blend is a minimum of ten years old, with components ranging from 10 – 12 years old. The blend is the same as all other expressions with a 24% malt and 76% grain blend.
Recommended Retail Price €89.95
Official Killowen Tasting Notes:
Nose: A Gentle sea breeze on the nose, with slight notes of cereal and lemon travel sweets, some ripe pear and fig with a subtle vanilla spice.
Palate: A combination of apricot and orchard fruits, slight petroleum with rubber on one hand with a marriage of demerara sugar, cinnamon and clove on the other.
Finish: A soothing sweet peat & smoke balanced with clove & vanilla. long after notes of orange peal and workshop leather.
Leave a Reply