Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt Whisky 14 years tasting notes and review
The Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Whisky 14 years is a single malt produced in 2004 with triple distillation, from the historic Springbank distillery, in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula.
It is a very soft, velvety whisky with a decadent flavor, shaped by 14-year aging in Sherry casks used to produce the Oloroso, the most alcoholic and mature sherry. The one where the action of the flor is inhibited by the large quantities of alcohol. Consider that the Sherry Oloroso reach even 20 degrees.
How the Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt Whisky is produced 14 years
It is distilled three times and so it becomes very fine and clean, smooth. Then it rests for 14 long years in barrels that have an incredible aromatic richness. The result is a very enveloping whisky, where the fruit is syrupy, macerated, with red fruit in jam an explosion of spices. The oxidized tones are there and enrich the general picture. Obviously, the peat is not present, there are smoky or woody tones, but that’s all. We can say that it is a complex and sumptuous whisky but also built by meticulous aging. It is not suitable for those seeking purity of malt or subtle whiskies.
The bouquet of Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt Whisky 14 years
It opens with a swirl of plums, dates, cinnamon, grapes in alcohol, and herbaceous memories that drown slowly in honey. Caramel and chocolate, pepper, then come lots of spicy tones, flowers. The many oxidized notes of nuts, hazelnuts, almonds are the “bitter background” on which the entire aromatic skeleton rests. And then it closes with a dark crescendo of burnt orange peel and salt. Overall it is not fine and thin, but offers a lot of stuff: it is like an avalanche.
What does Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt Whisky 14 years taste like
On the palate, it is dense, warm, and imaginative in its extreme momentum towards an extreme evolution, where the flavors are all brought to the nth degree. The sip is round, spicy, but does not lack vivacity, do not think it is a sloppy or lazy whisky. On the contrary, the lure of pure malt is felt under the curtain of cloves and cocoa. And it is the tannins of the wood that give structure and nobility to the flavor. They have distorted the distillate but then recomposed it, giving it a powerful structure, where licorice, cocoa, and rhubarb are the forerunners. This is not an easy whisky, it is very concentrated and does not want to be a distilled symbol of this terroir, but rather a prodigy of distillatory art. He runs fast and with a noticeable sapid extension on a very precise and studied stylistic track. Technically it is impeccable, it will not be dainty, but it has charisma and thickness.
Price of the Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt 14 years
90-100 euros: an acceptable price for a good distillate produced in only 9000 bottles.
Hazelburn Oloroso Cask Single Malt Whisky 14 years food pairings
Try it with smoked dishes, barbecued ribs with BBQ sauce, brisket, short ribs, chocolate cupcakes, cheesecakes, ciambella, Tiramisù and chocolate salami.. With chili flavored chocolate is a bomb.