Ledaig 2009 (Signatory) (46%)

This Ledaig was picked by Signatory Vintage, a 7 year old island malt from 2009, drawn from cask 700313 and bottled at 46%. Ledaig is the peated malt made at Tobermory on Mull, a distillery founded as Ledaig in 1798. The stills carry boil bulbs and an S shaped kink in the lyne arms, which raises reflux.

Distilled from peated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving a sooty, coastal peat smoke over a fruity sweetness. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, a light sweetness under the peat. At a youthful age the smoke is vigorous and coastal. Refill oak lets the peat and brine of Ledaig lead. 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. The distillery sits at the head of the bay, beneath a steep wooded hill.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. Peat smoke, brine and a medicinal note, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. 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.