Hazelburn 14 Year Oloroso Cask Matured

Hazelburn 14 (2019) was matured exclusively in Oloroso barrels. It’s a deep, rich and complex whiskey. I taste salted caramel, dried cranberries and tart cherries, dark cocoa powder, fresh raspberries and some peppery wood notes. There are some tannins here that were strong when I first opened the bottle but are starting to mellow. The finish is lovely and lingers for quite a while. This may be one of the best <15 year Oloroso matured whiskies I’ve had. Time will tell. Really good!

“Another Saturday Night” and this time I am home. Catch-22 on Hulu. Winds are sweeping. So, I shall pure myself this Cambletown malt which was sampled to me by longtime whisky friend @PBMichiganWolverine. This was triple distilled, bottled at a sold 49.3% and aged in French Oloroso casks for 14 years (if my facts are sound). Sounds clean and sweet. A nice Burnt Sienna color in the glass. There’s an introductory light Demerara sugar nose. Raisins, over-ripened plumbs, pecans, cinnamon and worn, aged leather. Behind the sweet and fruit is an earthy dampness: petrichor. The palate is prickly and sweet. White pepper, tobacco (an unsmoked cigar) and ginger provide the prickly nature. Maple syrup, milk chocolate, vanilla and salted caramels provides the sweetness. There is a seesaw of prickly to sweet and back to prickly as you keep chewing and swishing. The flavors are all packaged in a medium body. The palate remains tingly for a spell and softens. Orange peel, leather, caramels, blueberries wrapped into a charcoaled woodiness which fades to a long oaky dryness with traces of tobacco. This dram has an interplay of fruit, sweet and gentle spice, through all the stages changes yet remains the same. This Hazelburn has one of the more complicated finishes. A solid, full flavorful whisky. [90/100][Tasted: 6/15/16]

I bought this bottle with me while doing a farm stay this long weekend in PA Amish country. The nights seem here cooler than just a few hours east in NJ/NYC, and that combined with sitting around a fire pit at night looking at the crystal clear skies would probably make any pour idyllic. Sooty and sweet is probably the best words to describe this. It has the classic sooty backbone of Cambeltown, but a really strong sweet taste, from the full Oloroso matured. Environment has a lot to factor into any taste. I’ll have to repeat this pour in much more normal settings and see if my opinion changes. But for now, a solid 4+