Ledaig 11 Year (2005), Cadenhead
Whisky: Ledaig 11 Year (2005), Cadenhead
Country/Region: Scotland/Islands
ABV: 61.8%
Cask: Butt
Age: 11 years (Distilled 2005, Bottled 2017)
Nose: Brine, marsh, stone, vanilla, charcoal, burnt mangrove, herbal-medicinal, hints of pine sap and tar.
Palate: Medium-bodied, brine, charcoal smoke, sugary, meaty, charred meat, sweet wood smoke, medicinal herbs, occasionally acrid.
Finish: Medium-length with brine, herbs, and hints of sugary candy.
Score: 7-8
Mental Image: Disney’s Haunted Mangrove Swamp
Narrative & Notes: The sinus-clearing aroma featured layers of briny marshland, herbs, and acrid smoke. Wispy vanilla moved through a haunted mangrove swamp with mossy stones, burnt charcoal huts, charred trees, and old kelp. An herbal-medicinal edge arrived with hints of talc, pine sap, tar, and dried grass. The palate was medium-bodied with briny saltwater marsh and sweet charcoal smoke. Following the trail through a haunted mangrove swamp— but at Disney world— while munching on sweet cotton candy, peanut brittle, and charred pork belly. A sweet and meaty smoke drifted throughout with bacon and kiawe smoked trotters with occasional hints of acrid burning medicinal herbs, green wood, and an overzealous smoke machine. Brine and herbs held on at the end and carried over on the medium-length finish with hints of sugary candies.
Acrid yet sweet— as if I were standing by the grill while chewing on candy corn and inhaling the sweet smoke of charred meat and mesquite wood. Acrid and sweet may not be opposite flavors, but they have little in common with how we experience them on the palate. This was not an opposites-attract situation, but maybe something more like an odd couple, as the two worked surprisingly well together. No doubt, the briny notion of a mangrove swamp, haunted or not, helped link everything together.
Overall, I love a good Ledaig around the decade mark with minimal cask influence, and that was precisely what I got with this bottle. It reminded me a good deal of a recent SMWS release, 42.52 "Wood smoke through a porthole", though I enjoyed this one a hair more.
Image Credit: Whiskybase
