They have spent generations scouring the globe for rare and precious whiskies and their collection—the House of Hazelwood—is a thing of legend. It is, quite simply, the greatest inventory of aged Scotch whisky held anywhere in the world. Spanning seven decades, the diverse whiskies held in cask tell stories of remarkable places, lost ways of working, first casks, last casks, and the ambitions and achievements of several lifetimes – none of which will be repeated again.

This once-private collection is now being offered to those outside the immediate family. These are the most compelling whiskies that the inventory has to offer—a bridge between the past and the present, each parcel remarkable by virtue of its character, its history or its method of production. Each release creates a window into a time, place and story that is completely unique.

A Minute to Midnight

Combining the rich, dark character of heavily sherried malt whisky with the generous compelling sweetness of greatly aged grain to create a sherry bomb quite unlike any other. Dive into a deep of dark fruits upon smelling and sail swiftly into a sugary strawberry jam sweetness as the nose opens up. The palate is viscerally warming, with sticks of sweetly spiced cinnamon, underpinned with a moody, mulled character with a slightly dry finish.

The Last Trace

Over fifty years of maturation in American oak, the casks blended to create this release have lost the majority of their contents to the angels, leaving a remarkable spirit in their wake. The Last Trace delivers wonderful contrasts of flavour that move between sweet coconut and earthier, damp notes. The nose opens with toasted coconut, smoothing off to a buttery, yet mentholic scent. From there, the aromas develop, offering plains of leather and parchment paper – a nod to decades spent slumbering in cask. The rancio qualities continue on the palate, offering an antique character that begets a creamy crescendo with a lasting tart tang. Commenting on The Last Trace, Charlie Maclean, who has dedicated his life to studying and promoting whisky, said:

“This is one of the most extraordinary whiskies I have ever tasted.”

The Old Ways

How much can a distillery change its practices over time whilst retaining its identity? From the mashbill to the washbacks, the role of the stillman to the shape of the stills and the very material they were made of, every aspect of the way this whisky was produced has been consigned to the history books. Carrying a heavier, more aromatic character than whisky produced at Girvan today, this rare release has matured to create a full-bodied, palate-filling whisky of remarkable complexity—a lost style, impossible to recreate again using modern methods. An inexplicably universal sense of nostalgia is immediately apparent within this Single Grain—camping stove burners and wax jackets. The oiliness is complimented by the presence of Muscovado sugar. The palate carries this sweetness to the other side of the spectrum, at once developing into stewed rhubarb and gooseberries—a fresh and tart fruit couilis.

The Silk Traveller

This luscious Single Grain combines a smooth, generous mouthfeel with punches of star anise to take the drinker on a journey through the silk roads of yore. It is by turns sweet, perfumed and drying with aromatic notes of warm spice. The nose conjures visions of bazaars and souks—bustling with notes of dried herbs and aniseed. The palate moves into notes of freshly-made leather, straight from the tanneries. The earthy smell is at last tempered by the presence of astringent and sweet liquorice root.