Ledaig 2005 ElD (Elixir) (55.5%)

Elixir Distillers bottled this Ledaig, a 15 year old island malt from 2005, drawn from cask 72 and bottled at 55.5%. Just 237 bottles were filled. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. Burn Stewart revived the distillery in 1993, and Distell of South Africa bought it in 2013.

The spirit was run through the distillery's boil ball stills from peated barley, to build the medicinal, briny Ledaig character. A refill bourbon cask held it, keeping the smoke to the fore. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. The phenols soften with age into a gentle, sweet wood smoke. 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.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.5%, it is intense. Soot, sea salt and a sweet fruit, and the bourbon cask adds vanilla and a gentle honey. Beneath the smoke run brine, tar and a sweet fruit. The finish runs smoky, sweet and warm. This is the peated island malt of Mull.