Ledaig 2005 CWL (Chester Whisky & Liqueur Company)

Chester Whisky & Liqueur Company bottled this Ledaig, aged 8 year old from 2005 and bottled at 52.7%. 238 bottles in all. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. The stills carry boil bulbs and an S shaped kink in the lyne arms, which raises reflux.

Distilled from malt peated to around thirty seven parts per million, building the bold, smoky Ledaig style. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla under the maritime smoke. At this age the smoke is fierce and ashy, the brine and medicinal note sharp. The heavily peated spirit holds its smoke well across long maturation. The stills carry boil bulbs and a kink in the lyne arms, which lifts the reflux. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name.

At cask strength 52.7% it is muscular. Wood smoke, BBQ char and a coastal salt, and the ex-Bourbon lends vanilla and a soft honey. It is bold and coastal, the peat and soot to the fore. The finish runs smoky, sweet and warm. This is a heavily peated malt from Mull's only distillery.