Ledaig 9 Year Old Bordeaux Wine Cask Matured – 70cl
Peat and red wine is a daring pairing, and this 2012 Ledaig throws itself at it with no hesitation. Nine years in ex-Bordeaux red wine casks have stained the spirit a deep copper-red, and pushed dark berry fruit into what is already a smoky, muscular malt. Bottled at cask strength, 56.8%, it does not do subtle.
Ledaig is the peated make from Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, which places it firmly in the Islands rather than any Highland glen. The distillery has grown a following for exactly this kind of release: young, forceful, wine-finished spirit that shows what heavy peat does when it meets an assertive cask. Distilled in 2012, this is a limited bottling and it wears its strength openly.
The nose leads with smoked fudge, eucalyptus and a whiff of carbolic soap, then dark berries, leather and red wine behind. On the palate it is full-bodied and complex: burning heather and pine, grape skins and melon, smoked meats, dark chocolate and a lick of sea salt. Water is not optional here so much as recommended, taming the alcohol and coaxing out floral notes and lime pastilles. The finish is long, warm and smoky with real fruity depth.
Pour this for someone who thinks they have peated whisky figured out.
How to Serve
Neat first to meet the cask strength head-on, then open it up with water in a tulip glass. It needs the dilution.
Where to Drink It
Soho Whisky Club, a natural home for a bottling this characterful. Black Rock in Shoreditch for the informal, whisky-first setting. Boisdale, where smoke and a late supper go hand in hand.
Food Pairings
Venison, cooked rare, stands up to it beautifully. Failing that, barbecued lamb or a wedge of strong blue cheese, both of which lean into the smoke rather than shrink from it.
