Ledaig 2005 Sb (Sansibar)

From Sansibar comes this Ledaig, aged 13 year old from 2005, drawn from cask 900109 and bottled at 62.5%. 222 bottles in all. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. Water comes from the Gearr Abhainn, a private hill loch above the town of Tobermory.

The spirit was run through the distillery's boil ball stills from peated barley, to build the medicinal, briny Ledaig character. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, soft oak that lets the peat lead. Around the mid teens the smoke knits with dried fruit and a sea salt. The phenols soften with age into a gentle, sweet wood smoke. Mull's maritime climate works into the maturing casks over the years. It is one of the oldest commercial distilleries in Scotland still working. Tobermory has distilled in the island's harbour town since 1798. The town of Tobermory was laid out by the British Fisheries Society a decade before the distillery came.

Bottled at a cask strength 62.5%, it is intense. Soot, sea salt and a sweet fruit, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. Beneath the smoke run brine, tar and a sweet fruit. It finishes smoky, salty and warming. This is the peated island malt of Mull.