Ledaig Batch 20 (TBWC)

From That Boutique-y Whisky Company comes this Ledaig, aged 19 year old and bottled at 59.1%. Just 308 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. Ledaig, the old name kept for the peated malt, means safe haven in Gaelic.

It was worked through high reflux stills from peated malt, for the smoky, maritime spirit Ledaig is known for. A sherry butt held it, sherry and smoke twining together. Beyond twenty years the smoke turns gentle and sweet, soot and brine over deep fruit and wax. Coastal warehousing lends a mineral, sea spray lift to the smoke. 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. The distillery sits at the head of the bay, beneath a steep wooded hill.

At a hearty 59.1% it carries real weight. A maritime smoke over ripe fruit, and sherried dried fruit and a nutty edge come through. Soft smoke and brine sit behind the cask sweetness. It finishes smoky, salty and warming. This is a bold, peated island single malt.