Side by side : A trio of Hazelburn

Not quite the runt of the litter but you don't see much love for Hazelburn on social media. Springbank and Longrow seem to take all the attention.

I was able to buy an old bottle and here compare it against two more recent ones.

Hazelburn was Campbeltown's largest distillery, one of around 30 in the town. It was founded in 1796 by Matthew & Daniel Greenlees and Archie Colvill but was closed down in 1925 shortly after being taken over by Mackie & Co. (Distillers) Ltd. who became White Horse Distillers Ltd.

Photo: National Library of Scotland

Alfred Barnard described his visit:

"The Hazelburn distillery was founded in the last century, and rebuilt in the year 1836. It is said to be planted on the site of the Parliament House where James IV held a parliament when he emancipated the vassals of the McDonalds. The works cover three acres of ground and have a commanding appearance from Longrow. They are built chiefly with stone and have a frontage to the road of 372 feet, with a depth therefrom of 247 feet. Most of the Distilleries in Campbeltown are built on the same plan and surround a court yard, but in the case of Hazelburn two courts are embraced in one distillery, besides which, it is intersected by three roadways. From the front there is a pleasant look out on green hills and pastures. During our visit the haymakers were very busy in the fields opposite, carrying the hay, and the atmosphere was filled with its fragrance. The water used in Hazelburn comes from various sources, that for mashing is brought from the Crosshill Loch, for other purposes there are two excellent wells on the premises forty feet deep, containing spring water of the finest quality. The Barley used comes principally from Moray and Perthshire, and is brought by steamer to the quay, distant half a mile, and carted therefrom direct to the Granary doors. We entered the establishment through a covered archway and soon made ourselves known to Mr. Greenlees, who gave us every information and provided us with a guide. We commenced our circuit of the buildings at the Maltings, which, in this Distillery are on a large scale, and some idea of their magnitude may be gathered from the following particulars: They consist of three Granary floors averaging 110 feet long and 31 feet wide, capable of storing ten thousand quarters of barley; and five Malt barns with tiled or concrete floors of the same dimensions as the Granaries, each possessing a stone Steep capable of wetting 175 quarters at one time. These spacious floors are commanded three Kilns each of which is 36 feet square; all of them are floored with Hermano’s patent wire cloth and fired with peat. The Malt is conveyed from the Malting floors to these Kilns by elevators. Communicating with each of the three Kilns and forming a central chamber is the Malt Deposit, underneath which is the Mill Room containing a large pair of metal rollers for crushing the malt. The machinery is driven by steam and grinds 2,500 bushels every ten hours. In close proximity to the Mill is the Grist-Loft, which contains a Hopper in connection with a Steel’s Patent Mashing Machine over the Mash-tun.

 

We were next taken to a building which, besides other vessels hereafter to be described, contained two heating tanks, each holding 2,500 gallons for the supply of hot water to the Mash Tun, afterwards to the Mash and Still House combined, a neat building 64 feet long, 32 feet broad, and 42 feet high. At the east end there is placed a Circular Mash Tun, 14 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep, which is fed by the mashing machine and contains the usual stirring rakes driven by steam. In the same building, but at a lower level, is the Underback from which the worts are pumped up to a Worts Receiver placed at a high elevation. From this receptacle the Worts run through a large Morton’s Refrigerator to the Fermenting Tuns.

Passing through another doorway we now come to the Tun Room, a spacious Hall, wherein are placed against the wall nine Washbacks, each holding 6,000 gallons, all of which are switched by machinery. We then ascended a staircase and found ourselves on a gallery in the Still House on which is placed the Wash-charger, a fine timber vessel holding 5,000 gallons, and a Low-wines and Feints Charger, a similar dish holding 2,800 gallons. Descending, we found ourselves on the ground floor of the House. It contains three Stills, one of them the Wash Still holding 7,000 gallons is the largest in Campbeltown, the other two are Low-wines and Feints Stills, each of a capacity of 1,800 gallons. The bodies of these two Stills are of the ordinary Pot Still pattern made entirely of copper, but built to certain exact proportions. They are surrounded by brick work underneath is a furnace so arranged that the flues carry the heat all round, and there is no heating by steam to these Stills. There is, however, a peculiarity in the form of the heads which we have not seen at any other Distillery. The tops instead of being of the ordinary pear-shaped heads are composed of 32 chambers or tubes in each Still, terminating in a dome just before passing into the worm. These tubes are enclosed in a copper case which serves as a condenser, a stream of cold water being kept flowing around the pipes whilst the Stills are “at work.” By this means a large proportion of the fusel oil which otherwise would pass off in the form of vapour along with the spirit is thrown back into the Still, and the pure spirit is allowed to pass through the columns into the worm free from impurity. The heated water is run off by an overflow pipe from the top of the case. The accompanying sections of these Still Heads will explain the system.

 

We next passed out into the Court to inspect the three Worm Tubs connected with the Stills. They are all constructed with timber and hold 10,000, 8,000 and 6,000 gallons respectively, and afterwards to the Ball Room, where we were shown the safe through which the spirit passes on its way from the Worm to the Spirit Receiver, a vessel holding 1,700 gallons, and partly sunk into the floor; also a Low Wines and Feints Receiver holding 2,000 gallons, from which the spirit is pumped up to the Low Wines and Feints Charger before referred to, which vessel commands the Stills. Retracing our steps to the outer courtyard we reached the Spirit Store, which contains three large Spirit Vats and the usual casking and weighing apparatus. Adjoining is a Racking Store, and the Engine Department is on the other side; this latter consists of a capital fourteen horse-power engine and a steam boiler 23 feet long by 9 in diameter. We then inspected the Bonded Warehouses, which are so spacious that they occupy a third section of the works. They are nine in number and cover 70,700 square feet, and the whole contained at the time of our visit 302,000 gallons of Whisky. The Manager informed us that when full they will hold half a million gallons. The principal Warehouses of the firm are, however, in Glasgow, which on our return to that city we visited. They are situated in Osborne Street, and have a superficial area of 39,357 square feet with a frontage of 254 feet, and contained 15,000 casks of Whisky distributed over seven large stores. The casks are placed on timber gauntrees, puncheons nearest the ground, hogsheads in the centre, and quarter casks on the top. Each cask is locked in position by a system of wedge-like blocks, and with comparatively little trouble every cask, can be removed. But to return to Hazelburn. Adjoining the Racking Store, there is a cask shed and cooperage, also a carpenter’s shop, and at the principal entrance gates are the clerks and manager’s offices, where there are also sampling rooms and the Excise Offices. Twenty-two persons are employed in the Distillery, and there are three Inland Revenue Officers. The make is called Campbeltown Malt and the output for 1885 was 192,000 gallons. The works are however capable of turning out 250,000 gallons."

Hazelburn is now part of the Springbank family distilled in the same distillery as Springbank and Longrow.

About 10% of the distillery's output is Hazelburn.

Hazelburn is an unpeated, triple distilled whisky.

The core release is a 10yo at 46%, there's also a limited edition Oloroso Sherry Cask matured 13yo at cask strength and occasional special releases.

What I'm looking at here is a discontinued 8yo distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2006 at 46% alongside the current 10yo release and the Campbeltown Malts Festival Open Day release from 2018 distilled in 2007 at 59.6%

Let's see how they compare:

Dram	8yo (1998)	10yo	10yo (2007)
Characteristics	46% ABV Ex-bourbon 6,000 bottles	46% ABV Ex-bourbon	59.6% ABV Refill Marsala Hogsheads 1,070 bottles Open Day 2018
Distillery notes	8 year old Hazelburn single malt Scotch whisky, part of the first release of Hazelburn from the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown. They began distilling Hazelburn (which is unpeated) back in 1997. Nose: Foam bananas, vanilla pod, cereals and a touch of orange oil. Palate: Cinnamon and clove, joined by buttered toast. Finish: Pink peppercorn and burnt sugar.	Rich in flavour, our Hazelburn 10-year-old is awash with scents and flavours that will delight. Nose: Stewed pears and baked apples are followed by honeycomb and fudge notes. Palate: A lovely and rich whisky with vanilla and honey flavours, liquorice follows with a refreshing zestiness. Finish: A refined milk chocolate cream finish that is oily and chewy.	This triple distilled, unpeated style single malt whisky from Springbank distillery was distilled in June 2007, matured in Refill Marsala Hogsheads and bottled in May 2018 at cask strength for the Open day 2018. Only 1070 bottles released.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Orchard fruit, cereal, citrus and a little salinity. Peaches, pears and apples with chocolate digestive biscuit notes and a little orange zest.	Very similar to the 8yo, orchard fruit, stewed rather than fresh fruit, cereal, citrus and again the salinity. A little honey and toffee too.	Again lots of stewed orchard fruit, cereal and citrus but the salinity has been replaced with floral notes and a little dunnage funk - dried fruits and berries.
Palate	Thick sweet arrival, stewed orchard fruit, and citrus from the nose along with some peppery spice. Peach, pear and apple stewed and smothered in honey or golden syrup. A little milk chocolate - again back to them chocolate digestive biscuits. a lovely peppery spice kick as the liquid disappears - nice!	Again a thick sweet arrival but the milk chocolate hits first with this slightly older dram - it's very surprising! Fruit follows but a little more tropical than orchard. The spice is a little more noticeable too - gingery rather than peppery. There's a little hint of nutty dryness - marzipan? as the liquid disappears - yummy!	Thick fruity arrival, the sweetness has been dialled down a lot, the chocolate is still here but the ABV has pushed up the fruit notes - tropical and dried fruit led. This is quite different from the previous two drams, pineapple and mango married with sultanas, raisins and dried strawberry notes. There's a little golden syrup, toffee but with a hint of liquorice. Yummy!
Finish	Long lingering honey and peppery spice.	Long lingering tropical fruit with ginger spice and sweet honey.	Long lingering tropical fruit with ginger spice and chocolate.
Overall	The 8yo has been replaced by the 10yo but they are different drams, the extra  years ramping up the chocolate and spice notes as well as turning the fruit tropical - really nice. The Marsala is a different beast bringing dunnage funk - dried fruit, berries and liquorice to the party. These are all triple distilled, in the Irish style, it does give a much smoother whisky, but all of these weren't chill filtered which gives a much impact on the mouth feel - all thick and full - yummy! Three really surprising drams, Hazelburn is definitely the last of the three in Springbank's line-up but it doesn't need to be this is a lovely whisky - I'll be looking out for a cask strength version on my next visit to the Cage!

Many thanks to @MaltBox for the 10yo and @MaltMentalist for the Masala samples!