Ledaig 2007 WD (Whisky-Doris)

A Ledaig single malt, chosen and bottled by Whisky-Doris, an 11 year old island malt from 2007, drawn from cask 80016 and bottled at 52.6%. Just 331 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. The distillery was founded in 1798 by John Sinclair, a local kelp merchant, as the Ledaig distillery.

The spirit was worked through high reflux stills from peated malt, for the smoky, maritime spirit Ledaig is known for. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, vanilla beneath the soot. Younger here, the peat runs bold over a sweet, fruity core. Years in oak round the smoke while the medicinal, tarry notes mellow. 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.

At a full 52.6% it is intense and layered. A maritime smoke over ripe fruit, and the bourbon cask adds vanilla and a gentle honey. Soft smoke and brine sit behind the cask sweetness. The close is long, smoke over a sweet fruit. This is a bold, peated island single malt.