Ledaig 2010 (Authentic Collection)

Cadenhead's selected this Ledaig, a 15 year old island malt from 2010 and bottled at 55.5%. The outturn was 204 bottles. Made on the Isle of Mull, Ledaig is the heavily peated malt of the island's only distillery. The stills carry boil bulbs and an S shaped kink in the lyne arms, which raises reflux.

Run through the distillery's boil ball stills from peated barley, to build the medicinal, briny Ledaig character. It was matured in ex-Bourbon oak, a vanilla sweetness beneath the smoke. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. Peat smoke and active oak settle together over the years, the smoke softening as the fruit deepens. 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.

Undiluted at 55.5%, it is powerful. Soot, sea salt and a sweet fruit, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. Beneath the smoke run brine, tar and a sweet fruit. It closes long, smoky and briny. This is the peated island malt of Mull.