Ledaig 2011 FR (Feinkost Reifferscheid)

Single malt Ledaig, chosen and bottled by Feinkost Reifferscheid, an 8 year old island malt from 2011, drawn from cask 16 and bottled at 60%. Ledaig, the peated malt of Mull's only distillery, keeps the old name the distillery bore when John Sinclair founded it in 1798. The single malts are bottled without chill filtration at 46.3 percent or higher.

Distilled from peated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving a sooty, coastal peat smoke over a fruity sweetness. A wine cask laid red fruit over the peat smoke. At a youthful age the smoke is vigorous and coastal. A patient maturation suits the bold, smoky Ledaig character. 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. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name.

At cask strength 60% it is muscular. Peat smoke, brine and a medicinal note, and the wine cask lends red berry and a dry spice. A BBQ char and a sea salt lift it. The finish is deep, tarry and sweet. This is Ledaig, the peated malt of the Isle of Mull.