🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

A balanced malt. Not complex, but with character.

Compared to the 12-year-old (52767) this one is fruitier and cleaner, less peaty and oily. A bit fresher I'd say. For people who are not completely addicted to the Springbank profile this one is probably a bit more accessible. 85/86.

A very peaty and waxy Hazelburn. Blind tasting.

Wow!

Surprisingly complex! :)

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2021/04/26/bottle-polishing-spring-2021-part-4-4-ja-mitchell/ Considering how many varied Hazelburn’s I’ve enjoyed and admired over the years, it’s hard to believe this is the first bottle of standard Hazelburn 10 I’ve ever bought for myself. N: Everything a whisky should be, there’s every aroma you may well pick up in & all around the distillery site in Campbeltown. A style that melds so well with bourbon cask maturation, we’ve mild chocolatey grassy barley juice with my key favourite – the quince jelly profile note [also found in Auchentoshan], that helps define and identify triple-distilled Hazelburn no end. As the bottle goes down, I tap into the distinctive toasted mash-sweet heavy ‘mineralic’ [thanks Matt] lemon-sour phenolic oily caramel character. Yum! T: There’s absolutely no gimmickry with Hazelburn. It’s a big yet [organically] composed barley spirit on [more] quince jelly and sour~sweet lemon [& juice of]. With a consolidated sooty/farmy < dry-wood peaty smokiness, it shifts up and down through many toasted waxy barley-faithful gear changes. F: The broad yet relaxed spirit doesn’t stop flowing. We see more phenolic sour interplays over savoury barley mashy malty sooty chocolatey,.. stuff. One could write a book, and yet, it’s all in a day's work for the Springbank distillery. C: [Still] a cracker, and crazy-affordable, it makes me wonder how other whiskies [at this price and provenance] get a look in? Strangely, it’s the one the converted seem not to chase.

The nose was young, but not disturbingly so. On the palate and finish, this is simply marvelous. But unpeated? I think not.