Hazelburn 10 Year
After a string of bourbon reviews, we are heading back across the pond to Scotland to review a bottle I picked up late in the Summer. This will be my first review (and tasting) of a Campbeltown Scotch. Like many, my exploration of Scotch to date has focused on releases from Speyside, the Highlands, Islay, and some from the Lowlands, but Campbeltown has a strong proud history of Scotch production. During the high growth years in the 1800’s, there were up to 30 operating distilleries in this small area, but over the years whether due to Prohibition, a couple of World Wars, declining quality, and other regions gaining better transportation systems, the distillery industry in the region nearly came to a halt. Now there are three main distilleries in the area, Glen Scotia, Glegyle’s Kilkerran, and maybe the most famous, Springbank. Within the Springbank family (which also owns Glengyle’s Kilkerran, but operates it as a separate distillery), there are three brands – the namesake, Springbank, Longrow, and Hazelburn. Today, we will be tasting the Hazelburn 10. Since this is my first Campbeltown Scotch, it is, by default, my first Springbank as well. Springbank is a brand that I have been curious about for a while, mainly because everyone raves over their releases which are not only hard to find, but getting quite pricey when you compare them, from an age statement basis at least, to peers in the market.
Before we get into the Hazelburn, let’s explore the other bottlings from Springbank. The namesake Springbank comes in an array of age statements, starting at the 10 year, with a 12 year Cask Strength, a 15 year, 18 year, 21 year, 25 year, 30 year, and a 10 year Local Barley release highlighting the grains sourced from local farmers in the area. These bottles are mainly at 46% ABV (with the notable exception of the 12 Year Cask Strength, of course) and are aged in different casks profiles ranging from 100% ex-Bourbon casks or 100% ex-Sherry casks, to 60% Bourbon/40% Sherry to 55% Sherry/45% Port to other combinations as well. The spirit is distilled 2.5x with the half distillation coming from a re-distillation of the foreshots and feints with low wines after the wash still and prior to the spirit still run. What’s neat about Springbank is the complete in-house process from traditional floor malting and kilning through the milling, mashing, fermenting and distilling. Haven’t tasted one yet I can’t confirm, but these are supposed to be in the medium-peated family of Scotch.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen any Lowgrow, but this is the more heavily peated expression from Springbank. According to their website, the intention was to provide a “peaty, oily and robust component to a blend”, but is now a staple standalone product. The Longrow line is distilled at a “normal” 2x with a variety of bottles from the NAS “Longrow Peated” at 46% ABV and Matured in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks, an 11 Year old “Longrow Red” which is aged in ex-Bourbon and finished in Pinot Noir casks, Longrow 18 (Sherry casks), and Longrow 21, (95% Sherry / 5% Bourbon).
Disclaimer: Sons and Daughters of Scotland (and cartographers) the above is meant for illustrative purposes only so please don’t fault my efforts if the boundaries are not 100% accurate. Many thanks.
And finally, the focus of tonight’s review, the Hazelburn. The Hazelburn line is triple distilled, which makes me expect a lighter Scotch than I may be used to. You see a lot of triple distilled whiskey out of Ireland, and if I’m not mistaken, the Scottish Lowlands as well. As the Longrow was the heavy peated release and the namesake Springbank is a “medium” peated whisky, the Hazelburn is unpeated. The Hazelburn 10 is matured in 100% ex-Bourbon casks…so again, my mind goes back to the 3x distillation, the unpeated malt, and the ex-Bourbon finish, so I’m expecting a light and sweet Scotch. In addition to the 10 year, there is a Hazelburn Sherry Wood aged at 13 years which is 100% Sherry (bottle says Oloroso) matured from 2020 at 50.3% ABV, the newer 15 Year old version of the Sherry Wood, also 100% Oloroso and just a dite more oomph at 54.2% ABV, and a 21 Year Old at 46% aged in ex-Sherry (70%) and ex-Bourbon (30%).
Let’s get to the sipping.
ABV: 46%
How it smells….slightly earthy and sulfurous with charred lemons, apples, a bit of acetone, youngish.
How it tastes….very light at the start with citrus notes and sweetness. The light mouthfeel continues but the sweetness adds some caramel and ends with some bitterness and drying medicinal notes. The finish is sweeter with honey and bittersweet chocolate malt.
Price….$70
Rating....🥃🥃
Final thoughts….I found this a bit disappointing. It’s not a bad sip, but it’s not a terribly interesting sip either. I may ruffle some feathers about this since it’s a Springbank release, albeit not the namesake brand, but I was let down. There’s been enough hype about Springbank that when I saw an email from my “local” store, I felt compelled to make a quick decision to purchase a bottle just to ensure that I secured one of the limited supply. This “local” store is about a 45 minute drive and probably 200 liquor stores away from where I live, but when you’re searching for whiskey you have to cast a wide net these days!
As expected, this was a lighter flavor profile with some nice sweetness to the sip along with bright citrus notes, but there was something off as well. When I first went through my tasting, I thought it was ashy. Not smokey, not peated, but ashy. This is supposed to be Springbank’s unpeated series, so this took me by surprise. When I went back to it a few days later, I didn’t quite get the ashy flavors, but there were some bitter and medicinal notes that didn’t quite meld cohesively with the lighter citrus and sweet flavors. The finish wasn’t bad, more sweetness with the addition of bittersweet chocolate malt. Overall, I think this fits a 2x 🥃 rating given that is both “meh” and slightly overpriced, in my opinion.
I could blame the 10 year age statement, and while the flavor is a bit youngish, I have reviewed others, including a GlenAllachie 10, Benromach 10, and a SMWS 8 Year Old, all of which I thought tasted better and carried the same age statement or were younger. Some of these, including the GlenAllachie 10 and the SMWS 8 Year Old were more expensive than the Hazelburn 10 and I still rated both of these higher at 4x 🥃 and 3x 🥃, respectively. So being young in itself is not a deal breaker for me. These two happened to be bottled at higher ABVs, so perhaps this allowed them to express their respective flavors more effectively. Not that 46% is weak by any standards, but it makes me think that the triple distillation combined with the younger age didn’t do it any favors and the $70 price tag sorta sealed it for me. The Benromach 10 cost me in the low $50’s and I thought it was quite nice for the low $50’s. But if I’m going to spend $70+ for a 10 year old Scotch, you better be good – like the GlenAllachie 10 year that I paid $80 for and still thought it was a 4x 🥃 worthy bottle.
Will I buy another Hazelburn? Yes, but not because I’m a glutton for punishment or have money to burn. I’m honestly curious to see what a few more years of aging, with perhaps some different cask choices, will do for the underlying spirit. Both the Hazelburn Sherry Wood 13 and 15 sound interesting and offer a few more years in the barrels over the 10 Year, but they also age in ex-Oloroso casks, so I expect a completely different experience. Or hope to at least.
Nice Sipper Ratings Reminder…
All ratings are done on a scale between 1x 🥃 and 5x 🥃 according to the following criteria
1x 🥃 = I don't like this at all and/or not worth the cost by a mile.
2x 🥃🥃 = This is "meh" and/or slightly overpriced.
3x 🥃🥃🥃 = This is good stuff and/or the price is right.
4x 🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is wonderful and I'm always keeping it in stock especially at this price.
5x 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is amazing and/or this is way underpriced for the quality of the experience.
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