Ledaig 2007 Cuvée No. 1 (Signatory)

Signatory Vintage bottled this Ledaig, a 13 year old release from 2007 and bottled at 60.5%. Just 566 bottles were filled. Ledaig is the heavily peated single malt of Tobermory distillery, the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, founded in 1798. Its history is famously broken, with long silences; the buildings once held holiday lets and stored cheese.

Distilled from malt peated to around thirty seven parts per million, building the bold, smoky Ledaig style. A wine cask held it, layering red fruit over the soot. Around the mid teens the smoke knits with dried fruit and a sea salt. The heavily peated spirit holds its smoke well across long maturation. 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. The distillery was refurbished and its stills renewed between 2017 and 2019.

At a full 60.5% it is intense and layered. Wood smoke, BBQ char and a coastal salt, and the Port cask adds plum and red berry. It is bold and coastal, the peat and soot to the fore. The finish runs smoky, sweet and warm. This is a heavily peated malt from Mull's only distillery.