Ledaig 1998 (Old Particular)

This Ledaig was released by Douglas Laing, aged 21 year old from 1998, drawn from cask DL 13771 and bottled at 51.5%. Just 206 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. Burn Stewart revived the distillery in 1993, and Distell of South Africa bought it in 2013.

The spirit was made in the kinked copper stills from peated barley, for a smoky, tarry make with a sweet core. A sherry butt held it, sherry and smoke twining together. At this age it is mellow and oily, the smoke folded into a rich body. Active casks frame the smoke without smothering the fruit beneath. A rare, more heavily peated make has appeared under the name Iona, after a neighbouring isle. In dry summers the distillery has paused when its hill loch ran low. The distillery sits at the head of the bay, beneath a steep wooded hill.

At a full 51.5% it is intense and layered. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and the Oloroso lends raisin, walnut and a dried fruit richness. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. A long, peaty finish smoulders to the end. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.