Ben Nevis 1998 Hidden Spirits 21 Year Old / Stefano Cremaschi 40th Birthday

Following the lead of esteemed countrymen such as Samaroli and Moon Import in the 1980s, Hidden Spirits is part of a new generation of independent Italian bottlers. Founded by Andrea Ferrari, the company operates an online store for fine and rare collectible spirits, as well as bottling some very respected independent single malts and rum.

This is a bottling of Ben Nevis, aged in single cask #BN9819 and bottled in 2019. Bottled for the 40th birthday of whisky connoisseur and collector, Stefano Cremaschi.

Ben Nevis distillery was built by "Long" John MacDonald in 1825, and was so popular by the end of the 19th century that at one point the estate employed over 200 people. After a series of closure and re-openings at the beginning of the 20th, it was eventually bought by former Canadian bootlegger, Joseph Hobbs. He installed a coffey still there in 1955, making Ben Nevis Scotland's first dual-operation distillery, and began to blend its malt and grain before filling it to cask. Sporadic closures again followed Hobb's death, with stability finally ensured in 1989 when it was bought by long-term customers, Nikka Whisky of Japan. Its turbulent history means there were few distillery bottlings until the launch of the 10 year old single malt in 1996, but casks had long been making their way to independent labels, and many of them are very highly praised.