Aultmore 10-year-old (D.2010, B.2020) Hidden Spirits / 51.3% / 0.7l

The Hidden Spirits Whisky Company was founded in 2013 by Andrea Ferrari, a former whisky collector, blogger and consultant.

This small company specializes in single casks, and Andrea Ferrari personally selects them. He prefers whiskies aged in bourbon barrels, assuming that a sherry barrel often mutes the aromatic and flavor nuances of the distillate; for a similar reason, Andrea is not a fan of finishing. The whiskies in the Hidden Spirits portfolio are usually labeled with paintings by Italian painters, most often from his native Ferrara. The Aultmore presented here, distilled in 2010, spent over a decade in a first-fill bourbon cask, AT 1020, and was bottled at cask strength (51.3% abv) in 2020 in an edition of 201 bottles.

Nose: vanilla, caramel cream, honey, freshly baked bread, coconut flakes, apricots, pears, nectarines, a pinch of kitchen spices and toasted oak.

Taste : consistent with the aroma, vanilla, honey, milk fudge, apples, pears, apricots, pineapples, coconut, milk chocolate and roasted nuts.

Finish: quite long, with notes of vanilla, caramel, roasted nuts, summer fruits and oak.