Ok, it’s the time of year that apparently every whisky blogger publishes a list of his or her “top drams”. Well, blah to that eh? No one really cares I’m sure… But not to be outdone, here’s just the quickest of quick lists of drams I’ve enjoyed this year… nice and short so hopefully you might pass your eye and take something away to try sometime!

Hazelburn 10yo
Glengoyne 25yo
Bunnahabhain 23yo (Abbey Whisky / Rare Casks)
Glen Garioch Vintage 1995
Somerset Cider Brandy 10yo
Bowmore Laimrig 15yo
Pretty much anything by Balblair
(Plenty of others, but I won’t bore you any further)

And that’s it. Simples. Happy New Year yous lot! 🙂

Hazelburn 10 Year Old – 46%

Released in 2014, I tried this at the distillery a few days before it was due to hit the shelves and really enjoyed it. Part of the Hazelburn core range, this is a 10 year old bottling of Hazelburn single malt Scotch whisky from the Springbank distillery in the Campbeltown region. It is triple distilled, unpeated, matured in bourbon casks and bottled at 46% ABV. Not chill filtered and no colouring.

Nose: Quality and craft pours out of this as soon as you get your nose to it, packed with great oak, the sort of old oaky smell you get in dunnage warehouses. A slight mineral tone and sweet barley. It noses as something slightly older maybe. A tiny bit of salt and some gentle sweet summer fruits. After a bit of time to breath a bit of waxiness also comes through.
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