Review #4: Kirkland 18 Year Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Sherry Cask Finish

Distillery: Unknown

Bottler:  Alexander Murray & Co.

ABV: 46%

Age: 18

Price: $55

Color: 1.4 Tawny

Nose (according to the wife): Biggest note in here is honey accompanied by traces of dried fruit/acetone along with fresh wood (she thought it was cedar).

Palate: Very smooth. Whisky is in the nice sweet spot where it isn’t so thick that its like syrup but it isn’t too thin either. Definitely get a lot of the sweet, sherry finish with lots of honey. The dried fruit scents (I can’t really pinpoint what it is) shine along with the fresh wood.

Finish: Finish is where I find myself a little bit of two minds of this whisky. One one hand, it’s a very pleasant finish with some bitter dark chocolate-y notes. On the other, the finish feels a bit short, almost like coming to an abrupt stop.

Conclusion: For your money ($55), I don’t know if you do can much better. Definitely better than just about every other Speyside in it’s price range for me (Macallan 10, Macallan 12, Aberlour 12) and probably can hold its own against some of the ones in the pricing bracket right above it. Fantastic flavor palate with the honey, fruits, wood, and chocolate. The length of the finish is a bit disappointing but just about everything else about this whiskey is top notch. If you can find it in your local Costco, I would definitely recommend grabbing a bottle.

Final Score: 81

Scotch whisky review #4, Speyside review #3, Whisky Network Review #4

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection.
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.

Originally reviewed Feb. 19, 2018.