Ledaig 2011 WDS (Whiskydudes)

Single malt Ledaig, an independent Whiskydudes bottling, aged 12 year old from 2011, drawn from cask 69971 and bottled at 58.2%. 35 bottles in all. 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. Around the mid teens the smoke knits with dried fruit and a sea salt. Long maturation turns fierce young smoke into a rounded, coastal peat. Mull's maritime climate works into the maturing casks over the years. It is one of the oldest commercial distilleries in Scotland still working. 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.

At a hearty 58.2% it carries real weight. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and the Oloroso adds figgy fruit and a warm nuttiness. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The finish is deep, tarry and sweet. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.