Signatory Vintage: Ledaig 1993 (Scottish Island Single Malt Whisky: 18 Years: 43% ABV)

Visual: Very pale. Just the lightest colouring of a brackish offset from clear spirit.

Viscosity: Multiple fast streaks form from the spirit quite quickly.

Nose: Light beef and oxo cubes. Peat and a touch of smoke. Vanilla custard backing it up Bandage dressings.  Becomes light and a touch more medicinal with water. More beef crisp like as well.

Body: Thick textured. Meat with a touch of barbecued sausage skin. Sweet custard. Water makes more custard creams and beef crisps with a touch of light egg white.

Finish: Slightly dusty. Shortbread and ash. Barbecue sauce. Beef like if water is added and a touch of light milk chocolate.

Conclusion: Over the years I have come to associate a slight tending towards harshness with Signatory Vintage whiskies. Not in a bad way, but most I’ve encountered have had a bit more pep than usual to them.  This then blew that conception away. It’s a whisky that brings the meat and peat you would expect, but brings it in silky smooth.

It’s sweet behind the massive long lasting beer flavour The finish in particular lasts forever with beer and sometimes a touch of chocolate.  This doesn’t make it a world shaker of whisky but it is solid and smooth. It’s a good one to check how you get along with peated whiskies before jumping in with both feet to the more heavy going distilleries.

A solid expression, sort of an established baseline of how a peated whisky should be, but without and extraneous features.

Background: Drunk at the tasting rooms, this independent bottling of the more peated of the Tobermory distilleries output that goes under the Ledaig label was aged in a hogshead cask between 1993 and 2011.  I’ve sampled Ledaig a few times, but this is the first time I have got around to tasting noting it.

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