Ledaig 13 Year Old 1998 Malts of Scotland

Ledaig (pronoucned ‘ledsjick’) is the peated whisky from Tobermory, the distillery on the Isle of Mull. This sherry cask was put to sleep in 1998 and bottled by Malts of Scotland after 13 years. It is, if I am not mistaken, the third Ledaig from MoS (and the second from a sherry cask).

Can a nose be called nervous? If so, this one falls into that category, I think. I get a mixed bag of sweet versus salt. Sweet: think raisins and some toffee. But the salt is represented stronger with brine and dried fish. Some wet earth and flints. Steamed vegetables à la cauliflower and broccoli. A lot of peat, too. Adding water makes it sweeter and I think that is a good thing.

Ouch, what a hot attack! What did you expect, with such an ABV? Again, it is the brine that dominates, followed immediately with sweet peat and dark fruit. Raisins again, but also dried plums and maybe even some blood oranges. But so salty! With a teaspoon of water (two in fact, but keep that under your hat), it is much softer and – at least to my taste – much nicer. The sweet fruit is more pronounced.

The undiluted finish is bittersalt, while with water is becomes bittersweet.

A nervous Ledaig dat jumps in all directions, but thanks to the addition of some water settles down and turns into a gem. That is not a bad thing, because that means more bang for your buck, no? Around 80 EUR.

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