Ledaig 10 Year Old Impressions

What is it? 

Distillery: Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland

Name: Ledaig 10 Year Old

Make: Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Extra Info: Tobermory was formerly known as Ledaig, but today the name is reserved for the distillery's peaty expressions. Ledaig is actually pronounced 'led-chuck' but it's probably best to say it with a cough and move on to avoid getting into an argument.

Why did I buy it?

I bought the Ledaig 10 Year Old because it is a peaty whisky, not from Islay. It is the only whisky I own and have ever tried from the Isle of Mull in Scotland.

What did I think of it?

Presentation: The Ledaig 10 Year Old comes in a nice stumpy, clear glass bottle with grey labels with white and silver print. The year of the distillery's founding, 1798, is embossed in glass; as is 'Isle of Mull' and the cork stopper has a great looking image of the Isle of Mull carved into it, resembling an ink stamp. Good mix of modern and classic design elements.

Appearance: Pale orange in colour uninhibited by coloured glass. No indication of E150 caramel colouring being added but the label makes no point of it not being added either. Non-chill filtered and bottled at the telltale 46.3% ABV. Whisky Trivia: The esters commonly removed through chill-filtration are soluble (therefore not visible) in solutions with an ABV of 46% or greater. It is a good indication that the whisky has not been chill-filtered if it is bottled at or above 46% ABV.

Aroma: The smell of that grey partly dirt, diluted salt-water river beach, not the full-on white/yellow sand ocean beach smell. Faint smoke, mud. Citrus, lemon or orange. Addition of water brings the citrus fruit forward and some vanilla.

Flavour: Odd smokiness, like licking a burnout off asphalt. Oak. Addition of water makes for a more pleasant smokiness.

Finish: Medium length, building spice. Bitter right at the end.

Would I buy it again?

I would buy another Ledaig for sure, but perhaps not this 10 Year Old. Ledaig expressions are often released by independent bottlers and there is an 18 Year Old distillery release. I am open to trying these but there are plenty of other peaty whiskies that I prefer over this one. I highly recommend adding some water to get the most out of it.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to have the nose and palate of a Master Sommelier, however, I am working to train my senses to better identify whisky aromas and flavours. Consider all my whisky 'Impressions' to be a work in progress and I hope to come back to each of them in the future to see if I notice anything different. Most importantly, I'm not just throwing around random aromas, flavours and adjectives for the hell of it; I am trying really hard to critically describe each whisky I taste - WhiskyDad.