Ledaig 2008 WD (Whisky-Doris)

This Ledaig was selected and bottled by Whisky-Doris matured to 12 year old from 2008, drawn from cask 700011 and bottled at 54.2%. The outturn was 317 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 distilled from peated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving a sooty, coastal peat smoke over a fruity sweetness. 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. Refill oak lets the peat and brine of Ledaig lead. 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.

At a natural 54.2% it is bold and full. Peat smoke, brine and a medicinal note, and vanilla and a soft oak come from the bourbon wood. A BBQ char and a sea salt lift it. A long, peaty finish smoulders to the end. This is Ledaig, the peated malt of the Isle of Mull.