Ledaig 2005 Sb (Sansibar) (57.8%)

Sansibar selected this Ledaig matured to 15 year old from 2005, drawn from cask 900115 and bottled at 57.8%. The outturn was 186 bottles. Ledaig is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull, one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The single malts are bottled without chill filtration at 46.3 percent or higher.

Distilled from malt peated to around thirty seven parts per million, building the bold, smoky Ledaig style. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, vanilla beneath the soot. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. The cool, damp island air gives a slow, even maturation. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name. 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.

At a hearty 57.8% it carries real weight. 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. It closes long, smoky and briny. This is a heavily peated malt from Mull's only distillery.