Ledaig 2005/2012 Riverstown

An alternative title: ‘Hot burning sulphured egg’

Happened upon a description of this particular whisky on the whiskyfun website. And the description was so utterly fascinating that I just had to trace a sample down (no whole bottles to be found). This whisky was appointed a bronze medal by the maltmaniacs back in 2012, not bad but a closer look at the individual points on the scorecard paints a more nuanced picture. Highest score: 91, lowest 47. Now that should be a result that sets off a few alarms, not?

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Description: A 6yo Lediag, matured in a sherry cask and bottled by Riverstown(Blackadder) at 64%

Nose: stinging alcoholic fumes, at first it’s even a challenge to get your nose close to the glass . A frail fleeing whiff of sherry and yes those boiled eggs, wood stain, sulphur smoke from used matches and cashew nuts, (with water added: less eggs, more sulphur smoke, fermenting grass clippings and kiwi)

Mouth: an alcoholic bite, tastes like ash water on the palate, drying your mouth. In a sublayer you'll find some notes of lemon squash, barley and burned biscuits. (with water added: overall gentler on the palate with enhanced bitter notes of orange peel)

Finish: long and drying: like having to work your way through a whale of a cigar, knowing that you bit off more than you could chew, but you just don’t have the heart to admit it. A bit of coconut in the tail helps it go down.

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Verdict: wow, what happened here? This is amazing stuff. What am I saying? It is glorious! There is no way that this Lediag would ever appeal to the occasional whisky drinker, if Blackadder hadn’t bought this cask, it would probably have been poured down the sewer. It hits me where I live: utterly divine obscenity in a bottle.

For the rest of the evening I felt like an old dragon breathing sulphur smoke from his nostrils

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