Ledaig 1997 MMcK (Morrison and MacKay) (55.6%)

Single malt Ledaig, selected and bottled by Morrison and MacKay, a 19 year old island malt from 1997, drawn from cask 643023 and bottled at 55.6%. Just 260 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull, one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The single malts are bottled without chill filtration at 46.3 percent or higher.

Drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. A refill bourbon cask held it, keeping the smoke to the fore. Beyond twenty years the smoke turns gentle and sweet, soot and brine over deep fruit and wax. Long maturation turns fierce young smoke into a rounded, coastal peat. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. 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.

At its natural 55.6% it is concentrated. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and ex-Bourbon oak gives vanilla and a light sweetness. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The finish is deep, tarry and sweet. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.