Springbank Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1828 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

You’ve arrived back just in time to the farm house for breakfast, the smell of the tractor engine smoke still lingering in the air with the recently mowed grass. Freshly cooked pancakes with maple syrup await you, (although some prefer a sprinkling of lemon juice and sugar). The melons are a bit dated but at least the strawberries are fresh. There is the unmistakeable presence of brandy and junipers – surely the remnants of the night before? Could it be coming from the old lady who used to give sweets – you know the love hearts and sherbet to be exact?

Burnt sugar, cloves and Christmas spiced apple are cut through by lemon fizz and then smoothed over by boot polish. There’s a warm chilli infusion on the tongue, possibly jalapenos. It’s comforting though and blends well with Rooibos, Cardomon and Jasmine tea. Someone’s on the Grapa instead (there’s always one) - bet you it’s the one smelling the 15-19 year old girls perfume and exclaiming ‘You’ve got nice cornicing’..... hello!

It’s unmistakeably long like a hot, searing pain. Spicy, sweet, salty and complex, not to mention the sour mash and black forest ham. Deceptive as a ‘lime shaped like a lemon’.

Shelley Corner   // where things are said then regretted
- "Just hang on a minute! I've only got a small box and that’s way too long!"

~£65 (70cl)

WhiskyBase: Hazelburn 2000 CA   |   http://www.whiskybase.com/whisky/37376/hazelb

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

91 / 100