Hazelburn 9 Year Old Barolo Cask / Bot.2016

The Hazelburn marquee doesn't get the same amount of love as it's other two siblings, it is definitely a different style not as immediate as the heavily peated Longrow or the industrial wonder Springbank. It certainly doesn't match up with most people's ideas of triple distilled whisky, it's got the depth that you don't get from something like Auchentoshan and sometimes seems to retain a slight peaty funk despite not being made from peated barley.

The most recent releases have had some sort of double maturation or cask finishing much like this one here, six years in first fill bourbon & then three years in refill barolo Hogsheads, I pitted this one against a cask strength SMWS Cooley from my previous review.

I was the gracious recipient of a heel of this bottle care of @Astroke

Nose: Sweet, cotton candy, definitely alcohol on the nose, soaked cake with sherry, fruits in syrup, cider vinegar, crystallized fruit & juicy fruit gum. Orgeat syrup, loads of vanilla & powdered sugar & cooked banana. It's pretty sharp and sweet to start off then it diverges slightly with a green note, bay leaf, thyme, salt-cured lemons.

Palate: Full, slight sulfur, browned butter, candied papaya & pineapple. There's a dark note, sharp almost ozone like, toasted almonds, it's quite bitter on the back end with a woody/spicy note like cassia bark.

Finish: Lemon pith, sage, granny smith apples, paraffin, celery root, icing sugar, a trace of old leather and & mesquite smoke, peppery chili heat.

The Blab: The nose is shy at first but pleasant, the palate is oily, rich, with this dark note that eventually becomes this bitter/pithy thing that then takes over. The alcohol sharpness lingers until the end with that green chili, black pepper note.

Water helps reduce the bite but it heightens the pepper & lemons.

This one takes a while to tease out its charms, the nose leans heavily on sweet things, it's the palate that has more oddness.

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