Ledaig 2006 ElD (Elixir)

This is a Ledaig, an independent Elixir Distillers bottling matured to 16 year old from 2006, drawn from cask 27 and bottled at 55.7%. The outturn was 305 bottles. Ledaig is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull, one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The distillery makes two malts: the unpeated Tobermory and the peated Ledaig.

It was drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, a light sweetness under the peat. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. Long maturation turns fierce young smoke into a rounded, coastal peat. 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. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town.

At 55.7%, undiluted, it is rich and deep. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and vanilla and a soft oak come from the bourbon wood. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. Soot and brine see out a long finish. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.