We're looking at a couple of recent releases from Cadenhead's April 2025 Authentic Collection.
Cadenheads Ord 19yo Authentic Collection April 2025
Region: Highlands
ABV: 51.8%
Price: £85.00
Distilled in 2006 and re-racked into an Oloroso sherry hogshead in 2020, this 19-year-old Ord was bottled in April 2025 as part of Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection. A total of 264 bottles were released.
Nose
The nose opens with notes of Fentimans cola, toffee pops, red apple, and cherries. Given a little time in the glass, more aromas start to appear: summer fruit cordial, mango, and flat Tizer. There’s very little alcohol spice here, making it easy to nose. The sherry notes feel layered over the bourbon notes, but they’re nicely integrated rather than disjointed which can often happen with finishes.
Palate
The palate follows suit, sherry notes sitting atop a bourbon backbone. Strawberry cream and Fanta orange initially, followed by apple sweetness. These give way to treacle, cola cubes, and caramel on the mid-palate. Black pepper spice emerges near the end alongside the aforementioned sweetness. Annoyingly the finish is a little short, but our main criticism is the mouthfeel, it’s just a touch lacking.
Nose (with water)
Water brings out more classic sherry notes: raisins, prunes, and gingerbread. The bourbon fruitiness shifts into the background, now showing as orange peel and pineapple cubes. Those notes are still there, but clearly sitting behind the sherry. Still very approachable, with no noticeable alcohol spice.
Palate (with water)
The reduced palate has more spice, most notably raw ginger, and alongside it a slightly bitter coffee note. The sweetness has been dialled back, and orange becomes the dominant fruity note. The finish is now medium in length, though the spice lingers longer than the other flavours. Mouthfeel remains on the disappointing side.
Conclusion
Tasty and easy drinking without water. A more weighty mouthfeel and slightly longer finish would have pushed this up a point, but it’s still a solid dram. We wouldn’t be disappointed if we had a bottle of this.
Score: 7/10
Value
As we’ve come to expect from Cadenhead’s, this is another great value release. £85 for a 19-year-old single cask Highland malt, sherry finish or not, is hard to argue with.
Cadenheads Kilkerran 5yo Authentic Collection April 2025
Region: Campbeltown
ABV: 61.4%
Price: £60.00
Distilled in 2019 and fully matured in an Oloroso sherry hogshead, this Kilkerran was bottled in April 2025 as part of Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection. A total of 306 bottles were released.
Nose
We’re finding this initially quite tight and closed off. We’re picking up chlorine, lime zest, proving dough, shortbread, yeast, and just a touch of black pepper. With patience and time in the glass, more aromas slowly develop: chopped apples, buttercream, burnt brown sugar, gammon, that signature Campbeltown funk, and burnt newspaper. It noses a little young, but it’s not off putting.
Palate
It opens with cashews, manuka honey, cracked black pepper, and lemon juice. Ash comes through on the mid-palate, joined by dark chocolate, wet pebbles, warehouse funk, and simple syrup. These flavours linger on the medium-length finish with some cinnamon spice. It’s not as spicy as we anticipated given the ABV, and the mouthfeel is solid, but the age of the spirit is a little too noticeable.
Nose (with water)
Water hasn’t drastically altered the nose. The peat has receded slightly, and while there’s a touch more sweetness (barley sugars), the bready/yeasty note remains front and centre continuing to give away the drams age. The other pre-dilution notes are still present, just slightly softened.
Palate (with water)
Mouthfeel remains good post dilution. There’s slightly less initial spice, but curiously, the peat has become more prominent. More citrus pops on the mid-palate, and the finish gains a touch more spice while remaining roughly the same in length.
Conclusion
A solid dram overall, but undeniably young and quite spirit forward. We personally would have liked to haven’t seen a few more years of cask influence to help round things out. That said, we can imagine others, especially fans of Kilkerran, and distillate driven whiskies, might enjoy it more than we did.
Score: 6.5/10
Value
£60 might seem steep for a 5-year-old, but considering it’s a fully sherry matured, cask-strength Kilkerran, and it sold out quickly, it clearly is the right price for many.
- 10 - Perfection. One in a million
- 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
- 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
- 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
- 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
- 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
- 4 - Below average. Passable.
- 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
- 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
- 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.
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