Hazelburn 15 Year Old - Online Tasting Week May 2021

Hazelburn is the name given to the triple-distilled, unpeated single malt whisky made at the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown. Springbank produces much less whisky than their theoretical capacity and Hazelburn makes up around 10% of the distillery’s output, so usually fewer than 100 casks of Hazelburn are filled each year.  

Hazelburn has been produced at Springbank since 1997, with the first general release official bottling being an 8-year-old that was launched in 2005. A 12-year-old was bottled from 2009-2016 and the core range today comprises a 10-year-old ongoing bottling with manifold small batch and single cask releases. The first 21-year-old Hazelburn appeared in 2019 and small batches of Oloroso sherry-matured Hazelburn have also been bottled in recent years.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.