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. Cadenhead’s and Springbank are both owned by JA Mitchell, and I’ll speculate this was a Cadenhead’s release rather than an OB possibly due to the low bottle count. But I don’t know how they make those decisions. Reviewed from a bar pour. Rested about 10 minutes.

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Distillery: Hazelburn  

Bottler: Cadenhead’s 

Region/style: Campbeltown single malt Scotch

ABV: 54.6%. Cask strength.   

Age: 13 years old. Distilled in 2005 and bottled in winter 2018.   

Cask type: Bourbon barrel. 192 bottles. 

Color: Too dark to tell. Natural color and non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: More oak than I anticipated. Quite a bit of citrus, with grapefruit and lemon. Tea biscuits and walnuts. Something sort of metallic.                        

Palate: Excellent mouthfeel. Heavy on the spice here, with nutmeg, some fennel seed, and cardamom. Cross between almond cookies and biscotti. Not “smooth,” but lots of flavor. On the hot side.     

Finish: Spiced cookies and pie crust. There’s some of the citrus from the nose, but more muted now.       

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Conclusion: Another strong one. I haven’t had as much Hazelburn as Springbank or Longrow, but nearly every time I do I wonder if it’s not their best product. The absence of peat lets the other flavors really shine. The almond and spice flavors are so good here. Used to get these almond cookies at a Chinese restaurant in Chicago years ago, and this takes me right back to those cookies. This is very good at this age, but I wonder if it might have become something remarkable with a few more years. Just a hint of sharpness makes me feel like it could have used a little more time.

Score: 83

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky. (Convalmore 36)
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category. (Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1)
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram. (Ledaig 13 Amontillado)
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff. (Tomatin 18)
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting. (Glen Scotia 15)
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better. (Aultmore 12)
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink. (Glenmorangie 10)
• 50-59: Save it for mixing. (Old Pulteney 12)
• 0-49: Blech. (Muirhead’s Silver Seal 16)