Coaltown represents the third permanent whisky in the core single malt range of Kingsbarns, the Lowland craft distillery that pioneered the Fife artisan distilling revolution. It joins the ex-bourbon and ex-red wine cask Doocot and ex-Oloroso sherry cask matured Balcombe as permenant expressions. The name is inspired by Coaltown of Wemyss – a small coal mining village in Fife, located just north of Kirkcaldy, which has close links to the distillery’s owners. The whisky has undergone full maturation in American oak casks that have previously held peated whisky. These have been sourced from an unnamed distillery.
The Kingsbarns distillery is located in the Kingdom of Fife near the town of St. Andrew’s and was founded in 2014 by the Wemyss family. The family also own Wemyss Malts, an independent bottling and blending company, plus several other spirits brands. The distillery is in 18th century farm buildings and has a current annual production capacity of 200,000 litres, with potential to reach 600,000 litres. They only use barley grown in Fife for production. The first spirit was distilled and filled to cask in March 2015 with the inaugural release appearing in late 2018. Most bottlings to date have been small batch or single cask.
Kingsbarns Coaltown is bottled at 46% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. It is available via the Kingsbarns website and selected specialist retailers in the UK and Europe. This will spread to selected global markets as the year progresses. A bottle will cost £46.
Our Tasting Notes
The colour is pale lemon yellow and the nose is lively, bright and fresh. Aromas of heather honey, candied lime and vanilla toffee leap from the glass, and are quickly joined by a gentle waft of soft peat smoke. This goes on to provide the foundation. There are further aromas of green capsicum pepper, icing sugar and a pinch of white pepper.
On the palate this whisky continues the bright and vibrant theme. The sweetness hits first, especially the vanilla toffee and icing sugar. The soft and gentle peat smoke is not far behind – this now has a slightly mossy and ash-like quality that is reminiscent of dying charcoal embers. This elegant smoke proceeds to whisp around everything and bring them together. A hint of crisp green apple and that capsicum pepper and candied lime from the nose also sit in the background. The second half of the palate is all about the more savoury characteristics – think of damp chamoix leather, old cigar box and pinches of sea salt and white pepper.
The finish is of decent length and is long and warming. The smoke and savoury elements really come to the fore here, and create a spicy and drying feel. The sweet notes disappear rapidly, followed by the fruity and green characteristics. The gentle smoke really shines now and slowly drifts away with a peppery heat.
What’s The Verdict?
This new whisky completes a lovely trio in the Kingbarns permanent core range. Each whisky pushes their fruity spirit in a different direction – Doocot is light, sweet and classic Lowland in style, Balcombe is richer and heavier, and Coaltown introduces elegant peat smoke.
The casking here seems to be key and shows what can be achieved with sympathetic use of ex-peated whisky barrels during maturation, rather than using peated malt to make a smoky spirit. This is lovely and would be great to introduce someone to the delights of peated whisky without throwing them in a the deep end. Hats off to Kingsbarns for this excellent bottling and for putting it at such an accessible price point.
