#hazelburn

Review by: Raygun One of the Springbank brands, triple distilled and unpeated. Might also be the hardest to get. Springbank 10 and Longrow NAS aren’t so difficult to get (though not at a price I’d consider reasonable), but there is no Hazelburn to be found in my area. Also the one I’ve had the least and never had a bottle of. Here we have an independently bottled Hazelburn single cask.…

burDate: 8/16/2017

Bottles:

Hazelburn 9 Barolo

Hazelburn 13 Oloroso

Glenfiddich 21 Gran Reserva

While shopping for the previous round, I spotted a couple of Hazelburn bottles and decided to pick the 9 year up for my own collection. Then, I decided to buy it again for this round of Scotch Club. A Campbeltown-centered round was a welcome departure from a streak of Highlands and Speysiders. This also gave us an opportunity to compare two bottles from the same distillery and same release. Notice I have nothing to say about the Glenfiddich. Let’s begin:

Hazelburn 9 Barolo

Campbeltown is a tiny but resilient region. It was in the 70s what Speyside is today. This 9 year from the Hazelburn maltings is incredibly dense and packs a punch. 116 proof, not to be fucked around with. This is complex and up front. A bit of peat. Fruity, and, in my opinion, maritime. I love this scotch for its complexity and price. Under $100, plus the high proof stretches it a bit farther.

“Reminds you that you’re drinking.” @trav

Hazelburn 13 Oloroso

Same distillery, different barrel, higher year. This one really lingers on the tongue. We compared this to the Barolo cask: where the Barolo was incredibly dense and up front, and warranted multiple sips to decode, the 13 year Oloroso unfolded over a much longer period of time. This one was easier to drink, and lighter on the burn. Sugary and desert-like, but charred. Lingers like a motherfucker.

Glenfiddich 21 Gran Reserva

I have nothing nice to say about this scotch. Glenfiddich is the Budweiser of single malts. I tried to give it another chance here, but it offered nothing but disappointment. Actually, it offered nothing. This scotch is lacking in flavor. You get some honey sweetness and… that’s it. Might as well drink vodka.

Review by: The Muskox Let’s set the record straight here: u/_asipper went to Scotland, visited loads of distilleries, bought all the distillery exclusives, hauled them back to the US, then split them all out for people to try. What a dude. This is Hazelburn’s entry. Like the other Campbeltown handfills, this is an infinity cask, topped up from time to time with random cask ends without any…

Review by: TOModera So it’s the days leading up to Thanksgiving.. Wait, no it isn’t, I blabbered on about Thanksgiving two reviews ago… oh damn, I got these out of order. Whatever, not like anyone follows them chronologically. That and I do enjoy a pulp style story. So it’s the day… wait, no, go back further. So I’m a spermatozoa… wait, too far. So I’m looking over my reviews, like a sad…

Review by: dustbunna I have a mixed relationship with J&A Mitchell– specifically, whiskies matured in sherry casks from their portfolio. I enjoy Springbank and its variations in bourbon casks pretty consistently, but there’s something about their choice of sherry casks that always come across to me as a bit too far to the ‘dirty’ side of what’s possible in sherry maturation. What I sense, again…