Greetings Folks. Today marks a new chapter for the blog. Yep, I am thinking about new ways to keep everyone entertained and everyone happy but in a way that I can give relevant information and thoughts on whiskies. That is how I came up with the Head-to-head review series. In this series I will be putting two whiskies in the ring against eachother and may the better whisky win. 

Disclaimer: Everyones taste and what they like can differ, keep in mind that these ratings and winners here are ONLY MY OPINION, and I rate them according to my taste and my preference to give you a general idea if they might be worth picking up.

I will be rating the nose, palate, finish, price and availability of each contender. They will get a point for each on the scale of 1 to 10 and at the and an average score will be calculated. The whisky that gets the higher average score wins. You can see the results at the end of the article where I will add all the points together.

Disclaimer: These points don't represent my ratings that I give to whiskies outside these head-to-heads and the ones that you can see on the POINTS page. There I don't calculate price and availability in my ratings. You will find these contender whiskies with the usual ratings at the POINTS section.

Which whiskies can go head-to-head? The rules.

• Same age statement
• Same maturation process (exceptions might be made: ex-bourbon & ex-sherry maturation vs. ex-bourbon etc.)
• Same style (as in Islay whiskies that are peated can't go head-to-head against an unpeated Speyside whisky)
• Same ABV
• Prices are not too far off (prices will be taken from Master of Malt)

Our first two fighters will be the Glencadam 10 and the Hazelburn 10. Let's see what they got.

Glencadam 10 years old-Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 46%

"Multi-award winning Glencadam 10 Years Old is fragrant, with a grassy freshness and notes of citrus and spice, whilst maintaining a rounded smoothness on the palate. Matured exclusively in American oak ex-bourbon barrels, Glencadam 10 Years Old displays a natural sweetness, a soft yet spicy oak and clean, crisp citrus flavours. Additionally, this well-balanced single malt is neither coloured nor chill-filtered."

• 10 years old
• Ex-Bourbon matured
• Highland, unpeated style
• 46% ABV
• 49.99 EUR

This whisky was the first on my beautiful journey with Glencadam. People recommeded this to me because it shows the distillery DNA very well and it also has a very friendly price tag. It is a whisky for both beginners and people that are on a higher level in their whisky journey.

Nose: Aroma of fresh apples and pears from the orchard, apricot jam, freshly cut grass, vanilla and a little oakiness. A very basic but beautiful nose. - 7 points

Palate: More complex than you would think. It has two layers. On the first one you are getting these beautiful orchard fruits such as green apples and ripe juicy pears with apricot. On the other layer you are getting freshly baked bread with butter. Apple pie with cinnamon and vanilla sauce. Extremely nice and fruity. Very smooth, round an balanced. - 8,5 points

Finish: Medium length, clean and crispy. Very nice maltiness and fruitiness accompanied by various spices such as cinnamon and allspice. A worthy finish for a worthy whisky. - 8 points

The price for this whisky at 49.99 EUR is fair, on that front it is getting 9 points. As far as availability goes this is getting a solid 10 points. It is alaways available in most countries.

Overall this is an amazing whisky, I would recommend this to beginners mostly but I think this is a great dram for all of us whisky nerds. On my usual rating this is a solid 85 / 100.

Hazelburn 10 years old - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 46%

"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, matured in bourbon casks and bottled at 46% ABV. Hazelburn is one of three styles of whisky produced at Springbank, known for being triple distilled and unpeated, whereas Springbank single malt is distilled two-and-a-half times and is lightly peated, and Longrow single malt is twice distilled and heavily peated."

• 10 years old
• Ex-Bourbon matured
• Campbeltown, unpeated style
• 46% ABV
• 59.99 EUR

Nose: Great nose up front with ripe pears and green apples, some fragrant wood, vineous, lemon zest, some coastal saltiness and some fresh herbs. Grilled pineapple. A hint of compost and maltiness. It's a very simple and straightforward experience. - 6.5 points

Palate: Round and smooth thanks to the triple distillation this whisky goes through. Green apples and juicy pears with apricot. Sea salt and brine. A very distinct smell of stables with horses. Salted french toast, muffin with vanilla sauce and some toffee. It's less fruity but has a very complex and lovely nose. - 9 points

Finish: Medium or long, it has a nice peppery&spicy finish with lots of citrus fruits and lots of tropical fruits such as mango and papaya. It's very pleasant. - 8 points

The price for this whisky is way too high at 59.99 EUR. And that's the MSRP. If you can get it for that much. On secondary it goes for even higher prices. It's just too much for what it is. It's a simple whisky that should be prices 50 EUR at most. For the price perspective I am giving 6 points. And the availability of this whisky is a nightmare, you can almost never find it on the shelves of liqueur stores. On secondary you can find it for twice the price. For availability this whisky gets 6 points too because there are times you can find it and it's almost always available on the secondary albeit for much more.

Overall I like this whisky and when I can I buy some. It's tasty and it's not too difficult to be a daily sipper. On my usual rating this is easily a 86 / 100.

Conclusion

Bot whiskies are amazing. Glencadam 10 is cheaper and always available. It's also good for everyone on the whisky spectrum. The Hazelburn 10 is overpriced even at its MSRP and its a whisky for people that have more experience with whisky. Let's see the points.

The winner today is the Glencadam 10. Mainly due to pricing and availability. SUPERB WHISKIES. I hope you liked this head-to-head style of reviewing. 

All the pictures you see in this article are TAKEN AND OWNED BY ME.

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Check out the points on all the whiskies I've rated and ranked head-to-head over HERE.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.