Batch 215

Lightly perfumed with lychee, banana milkshake and lemon, with a little bready note. Let it open, and you get white peach, medlar jelly and William pear eau de vie, while a drop or two of water makes it even more ethereal and perfumed with almond oil, jasmine, light chamomile and green florals.

As you might expect, it’s bright, sweet and seemingly ethereal, with those floral elements floating around, but there’s enough soft weight to just hold things in the centre of the tongue, adding in a green leafy quality. Water helps to build a silky texture with more of the white peach plus iced Moscato grapes. In time, there’s meadowsweet and a hint of aspirin.

Light and bright.

A lovely surprise. Young, but not immature. It’s five years old, it’s under £40. What are you waiting for? Marked in its competitive set.

Gazing up into blue skies with just a Sprinkling of Clouds.

Unsurprisingly, given the strength, this is pretty poky on first sniff. It has a light vegetal quality with overripe pear, some thick maltiness and a piney, botanical edge – it’s actually oddly genever-like. Water stirs in vanilla, powdered lemon and balsa wood.

A rather soft start with a little heat and this mixture of waxy fruits, peach juice, overripe banana and peanut butter giving some complexity. By the middle, things are quite oily, then comes some fragrant wood, neroli and then crème de violette.

Workbench, then botanicals unfold at the end.

If genever sometimes tastes like whisky then why can’t it work the other way round?

Wandering in The Physic Garden.

Muscular. Roasted malt/granola with some sultana, then a sinus-clearing hit of wintergreen, burnt toffee and background smoke. In time, there’s walnut and sesame oil, hot wok, and black banana. Add some water to reveal sweeter, almost caramelised elements: chestnut and baked apple.

Because the level of smoke seems lower than most Ledaig malts, you get more of the dried fruits (apricot, sultana especially) and boiled sweet/hard candies. The maltiness remains, now moving towards nuttiness while the phenols are just on the right side of tarry. Water once more brings out the apple note, along with roast vegetable, liquorice and a meatier element.

Roast chestnuts and tarry smoke.

The best Ledaig I’ve had for ages. It’s still got the whiff of the barbecue pit, but it’s meaty rather than feinty, and has enough sweetness to balance. I knew this day would come.

Happily licking your fingers post barbecue, getting the last of that sweet Greasy Gravy.

As clean and briny as an early-morning fish market. There’s tiny touches of peppermint hiding in there, then it starts to deepen and pick up a wet wool note – hiking socks drying beside a peat fire. Add water, and a grassier, more herbal element comes out before you return to that mineral (and now slightly yeasty) starting point.

There’s smoke (and some oiliness) to begin with, along with a pinch of sel gris, but the other details are blurred by foggy smoke. Water helps the fug to recede, revealing a slightly more flinty quality, along with moss, cereal (brand tub) and some pear.

Short and lightly smoky.

Balanced. A nice contrast between neat and diluted.

Heading towards the coastline, sky now Obscured By Clouds.

While there’s still a maritime edge to it (lobster creels), this older expression also has robust but scented smoke, then mature notes of vetiver and lavender. As it opens, it becomes increasingly sleek and silky; there’s the delicacy of smoked trout and grilled oyster. Adding water shows green tomato, garden twine and a similarly herbal touch to the 10-year-old.

A subtly complex mix of fragrant smoke, sweet apricot and apple sauce to start. By the middle of the tongue the oils begin to flow, before the peat returns. Layered and mouth-coating. Adding water doesn’t disrupt the balance. If anything, it adds further layers by bringing mineral salts and acidity into the mix. There’s a more phenolic element as it relaxes with some ripe orchard fruits and a lightly pepperiness on the back palate.

Pear and smoky bonfire.

There’s a sense of calm maturity here. The smoke is a contributor, rather than being either separate (or dominant). Balanced and complex. Recommended.

A Drøm of a dram.

A bold mixture of chocolate, stewed black fruits, raisin and heady, forest-like aromas of petrichor and mushroom. The hint of prune nods respectfully towards Armagnac before smoke hooks you back to Scotland. Old-style west coast whisky. A drop of water doesn’t change the levels of concentration, rather there’s a little more sweetness, alongside grilled peppers, and smoke.

A very thick start, with chocolate and leaf mulch coming over first; then the tannins start to tighten, making things more leathery with some bitter coffee grounds, then the smoke. Water allows elements to expand slightly – there’s raisin fruit, blackcurrant, treacle toffee and red barley miso, but it’s still gripping and drying.

Gentian and calamus.

The nose is sensational, but the palate is cask-dominated.

I’ve Been Loving You A Little Too Long.