Ledaig 2006 TWhm Drink With Your Boots On (The Whiskyman)

Bottled by The Whiskyman, this Ledaig, a 9 year old island malt from 2006 and bottled at 53.3%. Just 154 bottles were filled. Made on the Isle of Mull, Ledaig is the heavily peated malt of the island's only distillery. Burn Stewart revived the distillery in 1993, and Distell of South Africa bought it in 2013.

The spirit was distilled from peated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving a sooty, coastal peat smoke over a fruity sweetness. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla under the maritime smoke. Still young, it is smoky and briny with a sweet lift. Refill oak lets the peat and brine of Ledaig lead. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name. 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.

At a natural 53.3% it is bold and full. Peat smoke, brine and a medicinal note, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. A BBQ char and a sea salt lift it. A long, ashy finish ends on sea salt. This is Ledaig, the peated malt of the Isle of Mull.