Here’s a long overdue review of two recent Kingsbarns bottlings.
Falkland is the Local Barley edition from Kingsbarns, if you like. It is distilled from barley sourced less than six miles from the distillery. It combines 80% first-fill bourbon barrels with 20% STR wine casks.
Kingsbarns Falkland (46%, OB 2023, first-fill bourbon + STR barriques)
Nose: hints of candy floss with vanilla custard and green apple sherbet. White peach, banana and pears in the background. Pancake dough. Then the malty side shines through, along with hints of butterscotch.
Mouth: fairly creamy again. Very friendly flavours like vanilla cream, stewed apples and lemon candy. Hints of white grapes and banana as well. Some green pepper and a light bitter edge comes out, as well as tangy hints of clove studded orange.
Finish: medium length, showing fresh oak shavings, green fruits and green spice. Bitterness in the end.
This feels young, and the wood leaves a bitter footprint towards the end. If you look beyond this, this is a nice Lowlands whisky with potential. Still available from the Wemyss website.
Next up is Kingsbarns Bell Rock Cask Strength. This is a rather contrasting release at full strength and matured in 70% Oloroso sherry casks and 30% first-fill bourbon.
Kingsbarns Bell Rock – Cask Strength (61,1%, OB 2023, Oloroso sherry + first-fill bourbon, 3600 btl.)
Mouth: really punchy, with a peppery kick at first. Quite a bit of alcohol as well. The sherry character is okay, focusing on pecans and hazelnuts again, with hints of caramelized fruits. Lots of gingery notes, some paprika and a light citrusy edge.
Finish: long and spicy. Pepper, salted caramel and burnt sugar, as well as minty oak.
Overall still a bit young (of course) and such a high ABV is rarely an asset in that case. Still available from the distillery website and a few German retailers. Score: 84/100