Hazelburn 13 Year Oloroso Cask Matured

Oh my god this is one good whisky. This review is actually for the 50.3%abv, 1 out of 9.900 bottles, a Hazelburn 2007, 13yo oloroso cask matured. Hazelburn was once an individual distillery, located in Campbeltown which was the capital of scotch whisky in the past. Back in 1925 when it was mothballed, this distillery was one of the biggest of the 27 of the region. Nowadays there are only a handful number of distilleries in Campbeltown and one of them is Springbank, who owns Longrow and Hazelburn. The three "brands" are distilled at the same place. Bottled at 50.3%abv, chesnut color. On the nose; it is absolutely gorgeous. If you were blindfolded and you nose it, you would definitively think it is a 100% cacao Dark Chocolate. The note is so accurate and clean, it is unmistakeable. Cocoa; cocoa butter; vanilla, strawberries and oranges. It also gives you this aroma of a leather wallet, brownies and slight saltiness. It is all about dark chocolate in all of its forms. The palate was delicious as well. Starts with chocolated bathed cherries, almonds, cocoa and dark chocolate. A second sip gave me Toblerone almond chocolate, tobacco and creamy vanilla. Aftertaste was bitter and amazing. Sulphur, pepper, salt; dark bitter chocolate and tobacco leaf. Very buttery, strong and long finish. Overall, this mantains my invented rule of "if the bottle is ugly, the whisky is got to be good, because it doesn't need marketing"; it was actually one of my favorite drams of this 2021 year, and i am sure it is going to be on my yearly top ten. Instant favorite, my score for it is a well deserved 100 over 100. Go buy it.

Chocolate almond?

The nose is a big sherry bomb right up front with a box of Sunkist raisins, then freshly baked dark chocolate chip cookies, ocean sea salt, hot sun-baked fruits of orange and lemon, a light peat smoke and cavern minerals with vanilla cream and light ethanol burn. The taste is an oily mouthfeel starting with loads of chocolate covered raisins, then salted baked orange and lemon, light peat smoke, cavern minerals and light ethanol burn that finished long with chocolate covered raisins, salted baked orange and lemon, cavern minerals, vanilla cream, and light peat smoke that lingers for minutes. Wow, just wow! This one is just an amazing balance of sweet, salty, sour and bitter that comes at you but each one is light and refined. It’s still a sherry bomb that some might not like with some nice funk in it, but those raisin flavors don’t seem to overpower or bring a Sulphur imbalance like other sherry bombs I’ve tried. This is just a masterpiece and big thank you to @ctbeck11 for the sample. I think I’m starting to turn into a Springbank fanboy and I’m ok with that as I feel a need now to add one or two of these to my collection.

2020 edition - 50.3% So I've never reviewed one of these and I have a few. So why not? Well, sherry bombs are tough to review imo and just haven't gone there yet. Nose - It's an interesting nose. A nice springbank under baked cookies and bread with old world european oak notes and light sherry elements. As it opens up the sherry comes out more and more, giving way to these dunnage warehouse elements, dark berries, earthy elements, and just straight up raisins. Taste - That raisen note on the nose gives way to the most intense raisin note on the taste ever perhaps. It's just straight brown sugar and raisins and soaked alcohol rum with sea salt and rich well aged oak elements. This drinks older than 13 years and yet it's vibrant grape juice and raisins and it lasts on the tongue. Yeah I'm a bit confused by the 50.3 as that feels like they watered it down randomly. None the less the fresh sherry is so good on this one. It's a poor man's version of my springbank 19 CS single cask and my god everyone deserves a poor man's version of that at a reasonable price and this is just that. 150 bucks is a big step up from year's past thanks to tariffs but it's completely fair. This is a hitter and one of the best sherry bombs under 200 bucks sold in the US, if not hands down the best one. Buy 3 and know you're getting the best sherry bomb that isn't a single barrel for the money in the US. 4.0 and I might be factoring in value here but I'm doing it anyway. Please note this review is for the 2020 edition, I do think it's better than the other 13 I've had and the 14. But I haven't done a side by side and I don't remember which year the other 13 I had was.

Definitely has that springbank funk. Has a bit of smoke in it despite it not being peated. Nose was like a farm.