Ledaig 1997 MMcK (Morrison and MacKay)

From Morrison and MacKay comes this Ledaig, aged 20 year old from 1997, drawn from cask 643083 and bottled at 50.2%. 290 bottles in all. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. Ledaig, the old name kept for the peated malt, means safe haven in Gaelic.

It was run through the distillery's boil ball stills from peated barley, to build the medicinal, briny Ledaig character. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, vanilla beneath the soot. Past twenty years the peat is a soft whisper over a deep, fruity malt. The phenols soften with age into a gentle, sweet wood smoke. 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. The stills carry boil bulbs and a kink in the lyne arms, which lifts the reflux.

At a hearty 50.2% it carries real weight. Soot, sea salt and a sweet fruit, and the ex-Bourbon lends vanilla and a soft honey. Beneath the smoke run brine, tar and a sweet fruit. It finishes smoky, salty and warming. This is the peated island malt of Mull.