[May, 2018]  I am in the mood to test some new releases and so I bought a bottle of this new Springbank of the Hazelburn style.  Before that I checked there is no sulphur in there and the good news is - yes, there was not a single sulphurous cask in the whole batch.  Great cask management at Springbank, congrats to this!

The colour is russetmuscat and the texture shows small tears that consolidate to bigger ones with slow legs.  The nose is quite bold on a modern sherry profile with all the fine sherry and malty induced aromas a connoisseur dreams of.  All in a fine balance with not a single flaw that I can find, simply superb!  The dram arrives rich and warming on the palate with a fine coating effect and no distracting moments whatsoever.  A truly excellent mouthfeel, I like that!  The taste is even richer with a great balance of the sherry, malt and wooden flavours again.  It is not the most complex one, but it is impressive and very quaffable.  The finish is of medium length and adds more spicy and chocolatey flavours to the taste with agan no distracting moments except a minor drying feeling at the very end.  Some water releases additional aromas and flavours and turns the dram even more sipable.  I like it both neat and reduced to about 40% abv (the reduced dram is even more dangerously quaffable).

Wow, this is one of the best modern sherried drams I had so far (even better than the Tamdhu Dalbeallie) and it is offered at a fair price point.  The rich Hazelburn malt characteristics combine greatly with the flawless sherry casks to a delicious treat for all sherried whisky lovers.  This is not a NAS edition and it proves that age does matter!

HAZELBURN, distilled for the first time in 1997, is produced on the same stills at the Springbank distillery as the Longrow and Springbank brands themselves. However, the untagged Hazelburn Spirit is the only one of the three brands to undergo full Irish triple-distillation, using both the Wash Still as both spirit stills. The resulting new make naturally acts 'purer' than this of the other two product lines. Usually this is accompanied by a higher degree of elegance and fruitiness. However, Hazelburn does not seem quite as 'dirty' as Springbank and Longrow. It could be criticized that the method deprives the Malt a bit far from the classic Campbeltown character. But tasting is well known to study, and I personally do not feel that way, but I have tasted many exceptionally good and quite characterful Hazelburns in recent years. So you can be curious. Eye / nose Rich brownish tone, a shade darker than the ubiquitous 'sugarcouleur' ​​color so common in blends. In the nose dominate Sherrynoten and a good torrent of alcohol, the connoisseurs immediately know that the malt was not drowned in Spanish liqueur wine. The nose is not overly sweet. Nevertheless, the aromas of 'raisins and walnuts in an old wooden box' subconsciously immediately suggest to my palate that the malt should taste sweet rather than dry. The more time and peace I allow the Hazelburn in the Glencairn, the more solidifies this impression. Let's see if reality and expectation fit together later. In search of the telltale signs of sulfur, I find in my nose nothing musty, but rather a nice freshness, which I ascribe to the distillate. No traces of bangles, fireworks, decay or other similar flavors that often suggest other sulfur influences. Instead, a mixture of unsweetened cocoa powder and Turkish mocha, followed by the rich smell of melted, dark couverture, as one sometimes encounters on a marble cake. palate Very full-bodied, creamy and round. Only a light bite on the tip of the tongue is left over from the strong influence of alcohol in the nose. The vinous sherry, however, is quite unmistakable. Dark, ripe blackberries and an association with chocolate oysters characterize the taste. Vanilla brand completes the picture, flanked by a sharpness that reminds me more of chilli flakes (in dark chocolate) than of pepper. All in all, the rather varied notes present themselves in a balance that is both astonishing and pleasing. Is not there perhaps a slight smoke in the background? Behavior but unmistakable. Very elegant, as I have appreciated it in earlier times, in a similar way, in older Highland Park bottlings and even today appreciate it. The malt goes down like oil. As so often with Springbank products, the taste on the palate goes absolutely seamlessly into the finish. Finish / Conclusion Great, long, classic Oloroso sherry finish in which the impressions of the palate echo like an echo and to develop a caramel-like undertone. Slightly dry and much less sweet than I would have expected in the nose, but without having an astringent effect even in the beginning. Again, I perceive this very fine smoke note on the edge, which I already recognized on the palate. Active, non-desiccated sherry casks are simply something right, really fine! Further notes and reviews on Facebook at #Maltkanzlei

Color: Amber

Nose: Terrific sherry nose is apparent immediately. There is warm spice, cigar or pipe (non-cigarette) tobacco, leather, and pleasant earthiness. In short, it's a well-executed version of a fairly standard sherry profile.

Mouth: The alcohol is not at all overpowering neat, although it's not bottled at a particularly high strength for a medium-sized batch bottling such as this. While I don't have a ton of experience with Hazelburn (or Longrow) vis-a-vis Springbank, I'm not sure the distillate's character stands up quite as much to the sherry as the latter, e.g., the Springbank 15 yo. That's not to say there isn't a ton of character here beyond the cask; rather, I'd have more trouble identifying this blind than I would a standard sherried Sprinbank like the 15 yo. This is smooth (not in the pejorative way whisky enthusiasts usually receive the term), quaffable. The nutty elements start to come through on the palette.

Finish: Medium-to-long. Impressive.

Comments: It's almost boringly predictable to be a fan of Springbank bottlings, but here we are. This is both something I enjoy as a more experienced malt enthusiast and a dram I frequently serve novices who have a taste for sherry-matured whiskies.