Ledaig 2008 KCC (Keeble Cask Company Ltd.)

Keeble Cask Company Ltd bottled this Ledaig matured to 17 year old from 2008, drawn from cask 44 and bottled at 48.2%. A release of 120 bottles. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. It is one of Scotland's oldest distilleries, and the only one on its island.

It was worked through high reflux stills from peated malt, for the smoky, maritime spirit Ledaig is known for. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, a light sweetness under the peat. By this age the peat rounds into a sweeter, coastal smoke. Coastal warehousing lends a mineral, sea spray lift to the smoke. 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 its natural 48.2% it is concentrated. A maritime smoke over ripe fruit, and the ex-Bourbon lends vanilla and a soft honey. Soft smoke and brine sit behind the cask sweetness. The finish runs smoky, sweet and warm. This is a bold, peated island single malt.