Ledaig 2007 HiSp (Hidden Spirits) (52.2%)

Bottled by Hidden Spirits, this Ledaig matured to 11 year old from 2007, drawn from cask LG719 and bottled at 52.2%. 328 bottles in all. Ledaig is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull, one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The single malts are bottled without chill filtration at 46.3 percent or higher.

Drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla under the maritime smoke. Still young, it is smoky and briny with a sweet lift. Sea air works into the island maturation, lending Ledaig its briny, coastal edge. 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. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name.

At cask strength 52.2% it is muscular. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and the ex-Bourbon lends vanilla and a soft honey. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. A long, ashy finish ends on sea salt. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.