Scotch

Whisky Review: House of Hazelwood A Minute to Midnight 45 Year Old Charles Gordon Collection

OVERALL RATING

8
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Tasting Notes

About:

A blended scotch combining grain whisky with heavily sherried malt whisky.


Appearance:
Maple syrup
Nose:
Syrupy baked pears with dark muscovado sugar. Loose-leaf black tea, a variety flavored with cherry. Also, the syrup from tinned black cherries. Balsamic glaze. Rich red fruits, like a ruby port. Balsamic glaze, black pepper and dried herbs. Cacao nibs, warm macerated strawberries and chocolate-coated raisins.
Palate:
Jammy red fruits upfront — sloes, blackcurrant, raspberry. Cocoa powder, like a rich chocolate sponge cake before it’s iced. Bitter espresso and pink peppercorns. That tinned cherry syrup clings around the edges, with a hint of cherry cola. Marzipan and buttery puff pastry.
Finish:
Fresh mint, torn and fragrant, leads the finish with more of that cherry-tinted black tea.
Comments:
For a blended scotch, this had serious clout — the casks have worked their magic here, lending a richness that is certainly unusual for this whisky style but undeniably delicious.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Beth Whymark

Beth Whymark is a WSET-certified spirits writer, editor, taster and presenter based in the UK. She joined Paragraph Publishing, the company behind Whisky Magazine and the World Whiskies Awards, in 2020, editing Gin Magazine and thedrinksreport.com before becoming editor of Whisky Magazine in September 2022. She led the title until July 2024 and also sat on its tasting panel. After a spell in content marketing for Scotch whisky brands, she now writes about and tastes whiskies from around the world for The Whiskey Wash and other drinks titles.

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