Ledaig 2007 Hidden Spirits 12 yo

 

 

 

52,8°

Distillery : Tobermory - Islands 

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 

Independent Bottling 

By Hidden Spirits 

Limited Edition 

Single Cask 

Bottled in 2020

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength

Peated around 37 ppm

 

 

 

It's barely ten years since Hidden Spirits was founded, and yet it's as if  they were among the oldest Italian trading houses. Three Ledaig casks distilled in 2007 were purchased by Andrea Ferreri's company, and each was bottled at a different age, presumably to compare. This is the oldest, it stayed for 12 years in a Refill Bourbon hogshead, which gave the distillate all its expressiveness, before conquering the cellars in the form of 310 bottles.

 

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

Quite astringent just after being poured into the glass, you need to be patient, and a nice smoke rises. Burnt plastic, cigarillo ash, toasted wood. A few drops of caramel. It gets better and better, the ash gets deeper, vegetal, leafy, forest peat, heather, black earth, humus. Moist charcoal. With the addition of water, white plums, but you have to say it fast. Oil, harbour smells, I can almost hear the seagulls wading in the gas oil. Ripe banana. A vanilla pod soaked in motor oil. On the palate, it's strongly peaty, thick, muddy, spongy, then spices, cumin, grey pepper, cardamom. Lignite. Soot. Asphalt softened by heat. Bitumen. Crushed herbs, hay, oats. Towards the end, chocolate, with blueberry. Very long finish, but not so powerful, slow and soft, honeyed, molasses, vanilla ice cream that gradually melts. Cola. Genoise biscuit with speculoos. Peanut butter.

 

In Short, 

I loved it, but it certainly can't be poured into every glass. It's totally radical, expressive, extreme. It's impossible for everyone to like it, and I'm grateful to Hidden Spirits for distributing such an unconsensual product. My rating is harsh, because it lacks a little complexity, but it's close to what I look for most in whisky, uncompromising products that give the full measure of their character. Obviously, with a quality like this, it's been sold out for a long time, but you have to trust the auction sites, where you can find it at a bearable price, I hope.

Score : 89

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Royal Republic - Full Steam Spacemachine