Ledaig 2005 (Signatory) (65%)

This Ledaig was picked by Signatory Vintage, a 17 year old release from 2005, drawn from cask 900038 and bottled at 65%. Just 388 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. Water comes from the Gearr Abhainn, a private hill loch above the town of Tobermory.

The spirit was 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. Around the mid teens the smoke knits with dried fruit and a sea salt. Active casks frame the smoke without smothering the fruit beneath. 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 65%, undiluted, it is rich and deep. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and sherried dried fruit and a nutty edge come through. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. A long, peaty finish smoulders to the end. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.