Benriach 8-year-old (D.2010, B.2018) Hidden Spirits / 50% / 0.7l

Hidden Spirits is a young player on the whisky market from sunny Italy, following the path paved years ago by legends such as Silvano Samaroli and Pepi Mongiardino.

Andrea Ferrari, an early whisky blogger and collector, founded the company in 2013 and, like Samaroli and Mongiardino, focuses on single casks. Hidden Spirits is available in three series: the Highproof Collection, the Classic Collection and the Young Rebels Collection, the latter for whiskies aged 8 years and younger. This is where the Benriach presented here was released – distilled in 2010, it spent five years in cask no. BH 1018 and bottled at 50% abv in 2018 in an edition of 170 bottles.

Aroma: peat smoke, barley malt, vanilla, cotton candy, apples, grapes, pears, ginger, white pepper, notes of cinnamon and oak.

Palate: peat smoke, sweet breakfast cereals, vanilla, honey, peaches, apples, mirabelle jam, licorice, white pepper and toasted oak.

Finish : quite long, with notes of peat smoke, vanilla, brown sugar, licorice, ginger, pepper and oak.