Ledaig 2007 MBl (Meadowside Blending)

Bottled by Meadowside Blending, this Ledaig, a 14 year old from 2007, drawn from cask 700643 and bottled at 50.1%. Just 264 bottles were filled. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. The stills carry boil bulbs and an S shaped kink in the lyne arms, which raises reflux.

Drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. A refill bourbon cask held it, keeping the smoke to the fore. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. Sea air works into the island maturation, lending Ledaig its briny, coastal edge. 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.

At a natural 50.1% it is bold and full. 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. A long, ashy finish ends on sea salt. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.