Nose: Rustic and elegant with malt, fruit and earth aromas. There is a hint of honeyed peat smoke along with toffee, tobacco, leather and the aroma of a sweetly decaying compost heap. In the background there is a faint brininess and some very heavy, earthy vanilla. Palate: Rich, creamy, almost oily arrival with standout notes of vanilla, malted chocolate and stem ginger preserved in syrup. In the development apple, pear and lemon appear along with toffee, nuts, and stone fruits. There are also deep herbal notes, a touch of hot spice and a fleeting, almost ethereal smokiness. Finish: Long. The creamy character of the palate turns delightfully waxy, almost like honeycomb, but a hint of flinty minerality prevents it from becoming cloying. Considering Hazelburn is Springbank's unpeated and triple-distilled persona it's intriguing that there is so much gentle smoke wafting about the sidelines. It's a very old-fashioned and uncompromising single malt, but it's not hard to strike up a friendship and once you get to know its personality you'll gravitate back to it all the time. The nose is so "big" you can almost get lost in it - I can nurse a dram of this for hours, just nosing it. It has an endlessly fascinating, almost farmyard character, but it never ceases to be elegant and refined. I usually enjoy this whisky neat, but it is also responsive to dilution - a small dash of water opens it up and some hidden sweetness and subtle fruity notes from the barley are revealed, but don't add too much. Like all Springbank whiskies, this seems to be more mature than the official age statement - it's more like a 16 year old from anyone else. The absurd official score on this site does not begin to do it justice - maybe it's a typo and it should have been 92? That I could believe. "Excellent" : 89/100 (4.75 stars)