Ledaig 1997 C&S (C&S Dram Collection)

This is a Ledaig, picked by C&S Dram Collection, a 17 year old release from 1997, drawn from cask 643078 and bottled at 50.9%. A release of 295 bottles. Made on the Isle of Mull, Ledaig is the heavily peated malt of the island's only distillery. Water comes from the Gearr Abhainn, a private hill loch above the town of Tobermory.

The spirit was drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla under the maritime smoke. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. Long maturation turns fierce young smoke into a rounded, coastal peat. 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. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013.

Undiluted at 50.9%, it is powerful. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and honeyed vanilla comes through from the ex-Bourbon. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. Soot and brine see out a long finish. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.