Hazelburn 13 Year Oloroso Cask Matured

Nose - date, raisin, spiced honey, spoiled orange, flint, lemon, vanilla, toffee, raspberry jam, allspice, rich malt, sweet oak, white pepper, dark chocolate, walnut, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - raspberry, orange zest, lemon, raisin, black cherry, vanilla, flint, pineapple, rich malt, ginger, brine, light peat, honey, chocolate, moderate alcohol bite, finishing long with spoiled dark fruit, flint, chocolate, and rich oak. Aged for thirteen years in fresh oloroso casks, this is a completely different animal from the standard 10 Year. While the younger is rather timid and subtle, there’s nothing shy about this one. The nose is beautiful. Overripe jammy fruits, toffee, sulphur, and that oily, dirty funk that’s a hallmark of Springbank whiskies. The palate is mouthwateringly delicious. Salted dark fruits, juicy citrus, chocolate, and more of the funk. The mouthfeel is oily and the finish is lusciously long. By now you can probably tell that I like this. It’s outstanding whisky and one of the best bottles I have in my collection. Better yet, at the $130 I paid for this last year, it’s the best value top tier whisky I own. It’s easily worth double that. The only thing holding this back from a perfect score is a slight youthful brightness which doesn’t detract from the experience, but it’s worth mentioning if I’m being especially critical. Still, if you see one and have a proclivity for the Campbeltown experience, buy one. You won’t be disappointed.

Lovely golden color. Plentiful, medium speed legs. Loads of malt sweetness on the nose, slight clover, maybe PX (maybe Oloroso) sherry and rancio, milk chocolate, banana bread, canned peaches. Viscous campfire smoke, then a burst of earthy leather and chocolate, then sherry and nuts. Wow, that smoke was a surprise. Maybe there’s some wet wood on the nose or an old pipe. There is definitely cavendish tobacco coming through on the finish. Serious Glendronach vibe here. Highland malt + sherry + tobacco. No bitter or astringent, black walnut-eaque notes as with the 18. The leather is more subdued. Is this the 15? It doesn’t have any additional heat to suggest this is a cask strength batch but I’m sure this is Glendronach…. WRONG! Campbeltown strikes again! Sticking my nose into my almost-empty glass I can pick up some sea spray that I missed (or that I’m just making up). That slightly (but not overly) peaty smoke should have been a tip off. Also a bit of peaty, almost hoppy acidity in there. Wow. I’ve wanted a shot at this for a while. Ie and owe @pkingmartin a big THANK YOU! I would put this above Glendronach 15 (and might nickname it peaty GD15). Giving it the same score at 4.5 but would be 4.65 if that was a thing. Might be 4.75 but trying to hold back because, we’ll I’m not sure why but just not ready to commit. Bottle has officially been ordered and now to hope it actually arrives! 😬

A- amber +2, good viscosity N- honey, toffee, vanilla, sea minerals P- Spicy, rich, full, sweet, sea salt, vanilla, tart, raisins, burn sugar, sea minerals, oak, green apples, berries, nuts F- medium- long finish, sweet and salty aftertaste, pleasant C- nice dram with lots of complexity that evolves in the glass bringing hidden flavors

Found this Hazelburn 13yr Oloroso Cask at Specs. I paid $106 on sale and feel I got a bargain based on reviews Ive read...lets find out. Triple distilled sherry bomb Springbank juice. No coloring or chill filtration and 100.6 pf pot still yes please. This stuff is stacked. Poured neat/drop nose is nutty maple fudge, dark plump prune/raisin, buttercream frosting with malt and light oak. Its not jumping out of the glass so be patient. There is some prickly heat getting in the way. Oily mouthfeel brings palate of rich sweet cookie dough and dark sherried fruits with a nice malty undertone. There's some raw honey, semi sweet chocolate, quality pink Himalayan salts and leathery oak. Good complexity and depth to flavors but its a bit bright. Finish is loaded with supple leather and sweet pipe tobacco transitioning to tannic barrel and salty malt. Just a hint of smoke. This has such a crisp cleanness throughout being pot stilled and triple distilled. It gives you that special Redbreast flair with so much more flavor. You can tell there's Springbank funk in the dna but its been filtered down. That sounds like a bad thing but its not, its just a different take on the absolutely wonderful new make. Springbank is such a high quality cant miss product you can pretty much buy anything they put out. This Hazelburn (9900 bottles produced ) is no exception. I bought this because of stellar reviews by dhsilv2, pkingmartin and Jose Massu Espinel so props to them. Im just here to pay it forward..........93/100....I get an overall old-timey fabric note from this I cant quite put a finger on. Its like a vintage linen(tablecloth/napkin) or cracking the vacuum bag after sucking fibers from an antique rug. Its dusty and aged and I love it

Old leather. Dusty. Brown sugar and walnuts. A little saltiness, and some of that Springbank funk (for me, a light petrol). Neck pour was a 3.75, but after a month opening up raising the score.

2020 Edition. Gets better every sip. Delicious cola-metallic-bitter-peppery aftertaste than keeps bringing me back in. I don’t find the nose to be very impressive, but it’s not the most important aspect for me. Feels stronger than it’s abv.