Ledaig 2009 TCaH (The Caskhound)

Bottled by The Caskhound, this Ledaig, aged 12 year old from 2009, drawn from cask 700598 and bottled at 56.8%. The outturn was 351 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 drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. Ex-Sherry wood added dried fruit to the smoky spirit. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. Sea air works into the island maturation, lending Ledaig its briny, coastal edge. 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. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013.

At a natural 56.8% it is bold and full. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and the Pedro Ximenez lends raisin, date and treacle. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. A long, ashy finish ends on sea salt. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.