Ledaig 1990 (Connoisseurs Choice)

Bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, this Ledaig, a 17 year old island malt from 1990 and bottled at 43%. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. It is one of Scotland's oldest distilleries, and the only one on its island.

It 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. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. Active casks frame the smoke without smothering the fruit beneath. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013. The stills carry boil bulbs and a kink in the lyne arms, which lifts the reflux. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name.

At 43% it is soft and deep. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and the Oloroso gives dried fruit and a toasted nuttiness. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. A long, ashy finish ends on sea salt. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.