Ledaig 2007 Artist Collective #4.4 (LMDW)

Single malt Ledaig, bottled by La Maison du Whisky, a 13 year old from 2007 and bottled at 48%. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. The single malts are bottled without chill filtration at 46.3 percent or higher.

Made in the kinked copper stills from peated barley, for a smoky, tarry make with a sweet core. Ex-Sherry wood added dried fruit to the smoky spirit. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. Sherry wood and peat smoke twine together, dried fruit meeting soot. The town of Tobermory was laid out by the British Fisheries Society a decade before the distillery came. The distillery's history is broken by long silences; its buildings once stored a local cheddar. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013.

At a hearty 48% it carries real weight. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and the Oloroso lends raisin, walnut and a dried fruit richness. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. The finish is deep, tarry and sweet. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.