Ledaig 2005 MM (Murray McDavid)

This is a Ledaig, bottled by Murray McDavid, a 16 year old island malt from 2005, drawn from cask 1900201 and bottled at 57.4%. Just 263 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. The distillery makes two malts: the unpeated Tobermory and the peated Ledaig.

It was distilled from peated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving a sooty, coastal peat smoke over a fruity sweetness. A wine cask held it, layering red fruit over the soot. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. A patient maturation suits the bold, smoky Ledaig character. 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. Both malts feed the Scottish Leader and Black Bottle blends as well as single malt.

Bottled at a cask strength 57.4%, it is intense. Peat smoke, brine and a medicinal note, and the Rum cask brings brown sugar and a tropical lift. A BBQ char and a sea salt lift it. Soot and brine see out a long finish. This is Ledaig, the peated malt of the Isle of Mull.