Ledaig 2009 MBa Fractals (Maltbarn)

This Ledaig was bottled by Maltbarn matured to 17 year old from 2009 and bottled at 52.9%. 147 bottles in all. Ledaig is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull, one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. Ledaig, the old name kept for the peated malt, means safe haven in Gaelic.

It was made in the kinked copper stills from peated barley, for a smoky, tarry make with a sweet core. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, vanilla beneath the soot. Around the mid teens the smoke knits with dried fruit and a sea salt. Active casks frame the smoke without smothering the fruit beneath. The distillery's history is broken by long silences; its buildings once stored a local cheddar. 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.

Bottled at a cask strength 52.9%, it is intense. Peat, iodine and a fruity sweetness, and ex-Bourbon oak gives vanilla and a light sweetness. A sweet fruit and a medicinal note sit under the smoke. A long, peaty finish smoulders to the end. This is the smoky side of Tobermory distillery.