Kingsbarns was founded in 2014 by Douglas Clement and is currently owned by independent bottler Weymss Malts, which purchased it in 2022. The placement of the distillery in the Lowland region, where there have been remarkably few active distilleries in the 21st century, was purportedly done to help provide comfort to golfers at the nearby famous courses around St. Andrew’s. The first whisky launched in 2018 and after a number of limited in development expressions, a limited core range emerged. The Kingsbarns Doocot is their flagship release and is the Scottish word for the dovecot that sits at the center of the distillery. It is a blend of whiskies matured in (90%) ex-bourbon and (10%) ex-Portuguese red wine barriques that have been shaved, toasted and re-charred (STR), both first-fill.
Distillery: Kingsbarns
Region: Lowland
Age: NAS
Strength: 46%
Price: $59.99
Maturation: ex-bourbon and ex-STR Portuguese red wine barriques
Location: Kingsbarns
Nose: Brown sugar, plum, butyric, banana’s foster, caramel, pear, apricot, apple, honey, orange blossom, grain
Palate: Pineapple, cherry, fruit cocktail, wintergreen
Finish: Fruit, oak, celery
Comments: Greatly benefits from some time sitting in the glass, along with a few pours to let you palate accommodate. Could be worth using in cocktails too.
Adam – The Doocot has a lovely nose on the outset, a rich vanguard of sweet baked goods gives way to fruits and florals before revealing a grainy core with a distant aurora that borders on astringent without ever crossing the line unless you sniff too deeply. After a while the red-wine influence, however distant, do come out to play. A layered, enjoyable, engaging nose. The palate is a different animal. A narrow line of fruit that jumps out a little to bite you in the way that fresh pineapple does, the different flavors jumbled together so that they’re more difficult to identify and pick apart. Then it rushes all past and settles into a moderately long finish of latent fruit with oak. The crispness throughout is a constant between all facets. I’ll be really curious to see what
Kate – There’s something generic about the Doocot. If it hits right on my tongue, it feels like the kind of charred alcohol they do to “elevate” desserts. A crème brûlée that is more brûlée than crème.
Henry – There’s a beautiful plum essence in this one but it’s being obliterated by everything else. A nose of wet hay, wet wood, with indistinct floral notes, candy sugar, crème brûlée, and an undertone of butyric acid. On the palate, it is hot, with wine cask influences arguing with assertive oaky tannins over a bed of sweetness, leading to a bright, hot, and drying finish. There’s a beautiful plum note throughout this dram, but it is being eclipsed in each phase of the tasting process by the rough wood influence.
Ben – The Doocot reminds me of the light sweetness of Brenne on the nose a little. There’s something sour underneath all that honey and pear, it brings us back to earth. The finish just sucks the moisture out of the air, though. Very dry. The second nose is less. It is one note but it’s not a bad note. If you add a little water and put the glass at right angle, that vegetal quality comes back but not like you’re smelling a fresh leaf.
Water brings out a vegetal quality more on the palate, a green grass quality.
Bill – It’s kind of light and there’s definitely a fruity bit on the nose, along with some honey that coats my nasal passages in a really nice way. Really bright and light, like an alfalfa honey. Orange blossom. It’s very hot on the palate. Surprisingly one-note, and not necessarily the best note. It’s kind of approachable. Water brings out a vegetal quality more on the palate, a green grass quality. I’d love to come back and visit this distillery again in a few years to see what some extra time does to the whisky; as young as the distillery is, they’re clearly still learning.
Sam – I’m getting a really big Bosch pear on the nose, the skin of the fruit. There’s definite astringency. The palate burns, it burns all the way. Every sip is like getting stabbed. They need to be better about the cutting; it feels like there are a lot of tails, specifically tails. The Doocot doesn’t taste peppery but it feels peppery, like white pepper on celery. This whiskey feels like, for a young distillery, they’re trying too hard out of the gate.
