Ledaig 2009 BR (BB&R)

This is a Ledaig, selected and bottled by Berry Bros & Rudd, a 15 year old release from 2009, drawn from cask 700324 and bottled at 58.1%. The outturn was 270 bottles. Ledaig is the peated malt made at Tobermory on Mull, a distillery founded as Ledaig in 1798. The distillery makes two malts: the unpeated Tobermory and the peated Ledaig.

It was made in the kinked copper stills from peated barley, for a smoky, tarry make with a sweet core. Maturation in sherry laid dried fruit over the peat. Past a decade the smoke softens, the soot and brine settling over ripe fruit. Sherry wood and peat smoke twine together, dried fruit meeting soot. Tobermory has distilled in the island's harbour town since 1798. The town of Tobermory was laid out by the British Fisheries Society a decade before the distillery came. The distillery's history is broken by long silences; its buildings once stored a local cheddar.

At 58.1%, undiluted, it is rich and deep. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and the Oloroso lends raisin, walnut and a dried fruit richness. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. Soot and brine see out a long finish. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.