Hazelburn 9 Year Barolo Cask Matured Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2016)

VITALS:

- $132

- 115.8 Proof

- 9 Years

- Campbeltown

I have and will always have a soft spot for Campbeltown Scotches.  I don't know what it is about them.  I do love a good, smoky Scotch, but it seems that Campbeltown, whatever it is they're doing there, seems to find a great balance of peat smoke and salinity.  That's not to mention their (at least Springbank's) use of ex-wine casks seemingly to perfection.

Yet, even where peat is not involved, they still seem to nail it.  That's where the Hazelburn line comes in.  I honestly don't even know where I found this bottle.  If I had to guess, I'd say Warehouse Liquors in Chicago.  This was bottled in 2016, and I can assure you I hadn't been holding onto it that long.  I also can't say that I've had a whisky matured in Barolo wine casks before, so no matter what I knew this was going to be a treat.

The nose was full of a nice, malty backbone, kind of like a sweeter wheat bread. It had notes of salinity and even a little black pepper.  There were also some rich dark fruit notes. I got blackberry and even dark cherry at times.  I also got a bit of baked apple with cinnamon and nutmeg. It certainly smelled rich and lightly sweet.

On the first sip, I got that black pepper note right away on the tip of my tongue. I also got that bready note, as well as a bit of the rich dark fruit. However, it was more of a plum note, having that tangy bite that you get from plums.  There was also a fairly distinct tannic note to it, certainly coming from the wine casks.

As each sip lingered a bit more, some of the sweeter notes came through.  I did get a caramel apple note (kind of surprised by this one), adding some sweetness to the baked apple I was getting on the nose.  But it certainly never leaned too rich, rather relying on the rich, decadent notes from the Barolo casks to drive the bus. 

On the finish, there was a light pepperiness, but it was that baked apple and plum that really stuck around.  The taste that lingered was as though I had just finished a delicious pie, including some of the malt notes to provide a sort of pie crust flavor that stuck around, particularly on the tip of my tongue. It didn't come across as super viscous, but the finish was long and, quite frankly, my favorite part of the whole experience.

Grade: A-