Ledaig 2009 MM Benchmark (Murray McDavid)

Single malt Ledaig, from the independent bottler Murray McDavid, aged 14 year old from 2009 and bottled at 52.9%. 149 bottles in all. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded 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. It was matured in ex-Bourbon oak, a vanilla sweetness beneath the smoke. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. Sherry wood and peat smoke twine together, dried fruit meeting soot. A rare, more heavily peated make has appeared under the name Iona, after a neighbouring isle. In dry summers the distillery has paused when its hill loch ran low. The distillery sits at the head of the bay, beneath a steep wooded hill.

Undiluted at 52.9%, it is powerful. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. 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.