I love Hazelburn, the 10 is a favorite. Managed to get the 15 which was released at the same time as the 21 in Sweden and I’m really enjoying it. A proper sherry maturation
Cheers Rob - nice review. I was able to try a cask sample of this at last years Whisky Show in London. It was cask strength so not quite the same liquid, but very close and I absolutely loved it. I too had to go to the auctions to get it, but not too crazy price wise (prices have settled down a bit).
Hi Rob, I tried this Hazelburn 21 yo in Paris in a show in September & liked it a lot (my picture was too blurry so I didn't put it in my Instagram), it'll be difficult to get for me but at least I tried it & can tell it is not too far from some old style Springbank 21 yo (cream label, tall bottle, late 1990s+), with a great balance. Glad I'm not the only one to like it. Cheers !
Sounds lovely😋 It is sad that Springbank cannot keep up with demand, but I like that they go with lotteries to buy it, so everybody gets an equal chance - at least that is how they handle it in Denmark. Cheers Rob🥃
Have to admit, I fall into the HB21 is disappointing category. I have several of the last SB21 offerings, and maybe its the peat, maybe its the fact they often have 3-4 different casks involved, but the SB21 just seems to offer much more complexity. I feel like young HB keeps its funkiness at 46%, but older HB (much like Springbanks) seems to lose it. So 46% + triple distilled + age = a pretty delicate dram. It's not a bad whisky by any means, but it's hard to justify the $600 price point for that in my opinion.
The hint of peat in Hazelburn is from the inside of the stills. Peat "smoke" is hard to wash off and ALWAYS remains in trace amounts between the Longrow and Springbank runs. Still an amazing whisky. Great vid. Cheers bud.
Yes, somebody said it! Hazelburn is peated indeed ... it's a very light peat IMO, but there's so much peat/funk floating around that distillery that it's infecting the so-called unpeated Hazelburn. Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. Cheers!
Saw the Hazelburn 21 in a couple of shops at the end of May in Scotland. Think it was just hitting the shelves at that time? Didn't even ask the price. Cheers Rob
@@WhiskyInThe6 Amazing, I think you got the better deal there. I just picked up the Hazelburn 21 from KLWines for 580 USD after taxes... and I was "lucky" to be offered that price apparently! 🤦🏻♂
@@scnullois You can find it on the UK auction sites for around 350GBP (it has settled back to this level from the mid 400s over the summer). With fees and shipping, its closer to 425GBP, but with favorable exchange rates that's still a (relatively) good price!
@@mbmaltman Thanks for the info. Any chance you can DM me some reasonable auction sites? I have never considered using them due to the clunky interfaces (e.g. scotchwhiskyauctions.com) and the high fees.
Damn. In breaking news, I just learned I’m buying a bottle of the Hazelburn 21 after winning a online lottery. Guess I need to rewatch this video and pay closer attention 🤣
Am I bitter? It's a good question. I've moved beyond getting fed up about the ludicrous distribution of Springbank products. I've no doubt that the Hazelburn 21 is a fine whisky but, truth be told, I've never bought a Springbang 21 or 25 even when it was easy for me to do so. They're unjustifiably expensive in my opinion. The jump in price from the 18 year olds has never made any sense for three extra years. These bottles are £200 if you're lucky and the price does factor into my perception of quality. Is it good, yes, but it should be for the price. Decent whisky at that price ought to be a default. One could almost say that a score of 90/91 in terms of price/quality, therefore, is average. We can't just park the price we pay for whisky anymore. It's going to break the bank and cost more than £200. That's madness. Bitterness and bile put to one side, that was a very good review of both of these interesting drams. I would think that the 28 is cask strength. I have a Laphroaig 25 cask strength bottled at 45%. I almost became a Springbank member a number of years ago but let it go. As Groucho Marx said, so memorably, I'd never join a club which would have me as a member. Cheers mate. WT 🥃
I agree. Paying $400+++ warrants a higher score or at least ought to. Such unfortunately is not the way of the world. We know this. With expectations high, I still really enjoyed this. Cheers my friend.
@@WhiskyInThe6 At least that's what I've always heard about peat in the Hazels. Who knows. Anyway, Hazelburn is better that way, if you ask me. I usually like Hazelburn the least, and then Longrow, and then Springbank most. Not always. For peaters, I really liked the old Lagavulins from the 1990's (white horse). When I lived in New York City, I used to get the thistle 12's Springbanks and the Lags (white horses) pretty much exclusively (only). I didn't know how good I had it back then. I just thought that was normal scotch. IT WASN'T. IT WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE BY TODAY'S STNDARDS! I didn't drink anything else until it got harder to get good Lags. Springbank went through a slump, in my opinion and then got better again. I never stopped drinking Springbank but I did ease of the Lags a bit after the white horses went away. Then I switched from the 16's to the Lag Distiller's editions in the early 2000's. Those stayed good but they were better earlier on. They are not as good these days. I collected some independent Lags and I've been subsisting on those instead lately. I've tried every distillery. There are some really good ones. But everything suffered when the internationals took over, generally speaking. That's when everything went downhill. It was a plot for sure. International interests quit plugging whisky in movies, waiting for the demand to go down, waited for the distilleries go start going out of business, bought then on the cheap and then after the internationals had a lot of distilleries, suddenly the media and hollywood started plugging scotch again. Public demand went back up, and here we are. Average scotch, overall, and inflated prices, with not very much old stock left due to increased demand in Asia and stuff.
Wow! Springbank is becoming unaffordable and unavailable these days. It is not for most whisky lover like me anymore.🥲 Even at their distillery, you have to be there very early and might be able to get a cage bottle if your are lucky. It is the same way how Hermès sells its bags.
It was my friend there. He told me there was no 12, 15, 18 and above at all on that day. SB10 was 44pounds/bottle and limited one per person. He was there at 8:30am and was able to get a cage bottle
I love Hazelburn, the 10 is a favorite. Managed to get the 15 which was released at the same time as the 21 in Sweden and I’m really enjoying it. A proper sherry maturation
Super excited I could get the Hazelburn 21 at MSRP 😁 definitely sounds like this one is worth opening 🥃
Your trade was definitely worth it when you compare the juice. What a great bottling
Cheers buddy
Great review Rob!! They both sound 👌👌
Cheers
Great review Rob, missed out on the Hazelburn 21y but seems like I at least have to get a sample
Cheers Rob - nice review. I was able to try a cask sample of this at last years Whisky Show in London. It was cask strength so not quite the same liquid, but very close and I absolutely loved it. I too had to go to the auctions to get it, but not too crazy price wise (prices have settled down a bit).
Agreed. Cheers.
Hi Rob, I tried this Hazelburn 21 yo in Paris in a show in September & liked it a lot (my picture was too blurry so I didn't put it in my Instagram), it'll be difficult to get for me but at least I tried it & can tell it is not too far from some old style Springbank 21 yo (cream label, tall bottle, late 1990s+), with a great balance. Glad I'm not the only one to like it. Cheers !
Cheers Greg
Sounds lovely😋 It is sad that Springbank cannot keep up with demand, but I like that they go with lotteries to buy it, so everybody gets an equal chance - at least that is how they handle it in Denmark.
Cheers Rob🥃
Similar here as well.
Have to admit, I fall into the HB21 is disappointing category. I have several of the last SB21 offerings, and maybe its the peat, maybe its the fact they often have 3-4 different casks involved, but the SB21 just seems to offer much more complexity. I feel like young HB keeps its funkiness at 46%, but older HB (much like Springbanks) seems to lose it. So 46% + triple distilled + age = a pretty delicate dram. It's not a bad whisky by any means, but it's hard to justify the $600 price point for that in my opinion.
Fair enough. You’re definitely not alone.
@@WhiskyInThe6 now bring us a review of that 58% Longrow 23yr :)
@@boingmaster would love to. Send me one 😉
@@WhiskyInThe6 if you ever are in holland... you're more then welcome ;)
The hint of peat in Hazelburn is from the inside of the stills. Peat "smoke" is hard to wash off and ALWAYS remains in trace amounts between the Longrow and Springbank runs. Still an amazing whisky.
Great vid. Cheers bud.
Ya that definitely makes sense. Cheers John.
Yes, somebody said it! Hazelburn is peated indeed ... it's a very light peat IMO, but there's so much peat/funk floating around that distillery that it's infecting the so-called unpeated Hazelburn. Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. Cheers!
Cheers
Was able to swoop a HB15 oloroso earlier today at my local store. They just hit colorado.
Nice!
Managed to grab a Hazelburn 21 last week, so im pumped for that. Also isn't the cask make up 70 (sherry)/30(bourbon) split, according to whiskybase?
Ya you’re probably right
Man that looks good. Sadly just not seeing anything like this here locally anymore it seems.
That’s odd.
Each year our allocation locally goes down. So the higher end/older stuff isn't coming here. No clue who's getting it instead.
Saw the Hazelburn 21 in a couple of shops at the end of May in Scotland. Think it was just hitting the shelves at that time? Didn't even ask the price. Cheers Rob
You’re stronger than I Donner.
Excellent review. What did you have to trade for the Hazelburn 21 and what is the most you think is reasonable to pay for it?
Glenallachie 21
@@WhiskyInThe6 Amazing, I think you got the better deal there. I just picked up the Hazelburn 21 from KLWines for 580 USD after taxes... and I was "lucky" to be offered that price apparently! 🤦🏻♂
@@scnullois You can find it on the UK auction sites for around 350GBP (it has settled back to this level from the mid 400s over the summer). With fees and shipping, its closer to 425GBP, but with favorable exchange rates that's still a (relatively) good price!
@@mbmaltman Thanks for the info. Any chance you can DM me some reasonable auction sites? I have never considered using them due to the clunky interfaces (e.g. scotchwhiskyauctions.com) and the high fees.
Springbank , Hazelburn , Longrow .... Slainte !
H21 is £300 to £500 at auction in the UK. Goodnight Vienna.
That’s a lot.
I find that even the 10 has a touch of peat even tho its "unpeated"
For sure. Cheers.
Damn. In breaking news, I just learned I’m buying a bottle of the Hazelburn 21 after winning a online lottery. Guess I need to rewatch this video and pay closer attention 🤣
Lol great bottle.
Am I bitter? It's a good question. I've moved beyond getting fed up about the ludicrous distribution of Springbank products. I've no doubt that the Hazelburn 21 is a fine whisky but, truth be told, I've never bought a Springbang 21 or 25 even when it was easy for me to do so. They're unjustifiably expensive in my opinion. The jump in price from the 18 year olds has never made any sense for three extra years. These bottles are £200 if you're lucky and the price does factor into my perception of quality. Is it good, yes, but it should be for the price. Decent whisky at that price ought to be a default. One could almost say that a score of 90/91 in terms of price/quality, therefore, is average. We can't just park the price we pay for whisky anymore. It's going to break the bank and cost more than £200. That's madness.
Bitterness and bile put to one side, that was a very good review of both of these interesting drams. I would think that the 28 is cask strength. I have a Laphroaig 25 cask strength bottled at 45%. I almost became a Springbank member a number of years ago but let it go. As Groucho Marx said, so memorably, I'd never join a club which would have me as a member. Cheers mate. WT 🥃
I agree. Paying $400+++ warrants a higher score or at least ought to. Such unfortunately is not the way of the world. We know this. With expectations high, I still really enjoyed this. Cheers my friend.
🙌🙌🙌🙌
how do I become a springbank society member?
UK membership is currently closed.
All memberships are closed unfortunately.
@@WhiskyInThe6 nuts!
how much does that 200 ml 28 year old go for?
£300-£400 at auction in UK.
Was just over $200 retail if I’m not mistaken.
@@WhiskyInThe6 not bad
The smoke rubs off from the still not the malt floor
Ya I can see that
@@WhiskyInThe6 At least that's what I've always heard about peat in the Hazels. Who knows. Anyway, Hazelburn is better that way, if you ask me.
I usually like Hazelburn the least, and then Longrow, and then Springbank most. Not always. For peaters, I really liked the old Lagavulins from the 1990's (white horse). When I lived in New York City, I used to get the thistle 12's Springbanks and the Lags (white horses) pretty much exclusively (only). I didn't know how good I had it back then. I just thought that was normal scotch. IT WASN'T. IT WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE BY TODAY'S STNDARDS!
I didn't drink anything else until it got harder to get good Lags. Springbank went through a slump, in my opinion and then got better again. I never stopped drinking Springbank but I did ease of the Lags a bit after the white horses went away. Then I switched from the 16's to the Lag Distiller's editions in the early 2000's. Those stayed good but they were better earlier on. They are not as good these days. I collected some independent Lags and I've been subsisting on those instead lately.
I've tried every distillery. There are some really good ones. But everything suffered when the internationals took over, generally speaking. That's when everything went downhill. It was a plot for sure. International interests quit plugging whisky in movies, waiting for the demand to go down, waited for the distilleries go start going out of business, bought then on the cheap and then after the internationals had a lot of distilleries, suddenly the media and hollywood started plugging scotch again. Public demand went back up, and here we are. Average scotch, overall, and inflated prices, with not very much old stock left due to increased demand in Asia and stuff.
Wow! Springbank is becoming unaffordable and unavailable these days. It is not for most whisky lover like me anymore.🥲 Even at their distillery, you have to be there very early and might be able to get a cage bottle if your are lucky. It is the same way how Hermès sells its bags.
It’s really sad. What are the distillery prices like?
It was my friend there. He told me there was no 12, 15, 18 and above at all on that day. SB10 was 44pounds/bottle and limited one per person. He was there at 8:30am and was able to get a cage bottle
Distillery prices are RRP. 10 hour plus drive for me from NW England.