I’m finally getting around to trying and reviewing my first Hazelburn. This is the 9 year old that was fully matured in ex-Barolo Wine casks. For those not “in the know”, Hazelburn is actually just another name used by Springbank, along with Longrow, and is basically their completely unpeated line of whiskies. Ten percent of their capacity is used for Longrow heavily peated malts, 10% for Hazelburn and the rest for Springbank. This whisky is pale gold in color and oily with lots of undefined legs. It was bottled at 57.9% ABV and runs about $115 a bottle, if you can find it. The nose was somewhat weak IMO: mixed nuts, powdered sugar and some light oak were the main flavors I detected, along with a lingering note of alcohol due to the higher ABV. I didn’t get many floral properties like most Springbank. The palate was very hot with a predominant note of sawdust and freshly cut oak. Sunbeam raisins, almonds and a little grape-y sweetness mingle in if you can stand the heat on your tongue long enough. There’s a syrupy sugar flavor left behind as well. The finish is long and hot with some final vanilla notes from the cask working their way through the heat. It ultimately finished very salty and dry and left me wondering where the true wine barrel notes are? It’s definitely too hot to drink neat- I learned that too late, but I don’t like to water my drams down anyway. This is how Hazelburn presented it, this is how I’ll drink it. That said, it’s a hot mess. When you advertise a particular wine cask maturation/finish I expect to taste it and I just couldn’t get through the heat. For that reason, this is a 2.5-3 star dram at best. Thanks to my friend @Telex for supplying me with this one. Cheers.