Ledaig 16 Year (2004), Gordon and MacPhail for Broken Barrel Club Cask 16600608
Whisky: Ledaig 16 Year (2004), Gordon and MacPhail for Broken Barrel Club Cask 16600608
Country/Region: Scotland/Islands
ABV: 54.5%
Cask: Refill Bourbon Barrel
Age: 16 Years (Distilled 2004, Bottled 23 Feb. 2021)
Nose: Maritime brine, minerals, tar, coal dust, hints of licorice, oily fish, citrus, more cream and coal with water.
Palate: Medium-bodied, oily, orchard fruit, citrus, brine, ash, black pepper, minerals, herbal and oaky at the end, bitter finish.
Finish: Medium-length with maritime brine, subtle fruit, and an oaky bitterness.
Score: 4-5
Mental Image: Beach Day Burn Pit
Narrative & Notes: The aroma was maritime and a touch acrid with brine, sun-bleached coral, sea shells, tar, creosote, and bituminous coal. Hints of licorice arrived with charred fennel root, smoked salmon skin, and citrusy orange peel or jabong. A few drops of water elevated a latent creaminess to offer creamy smoked cheese or orange cream soda beneath the coal dust of an oceanic steamer. Medium-bodied and oily, the flavor profile presented orchard fruits, citrus, and an underlying maritime brine. Apples and charred lemons arrived first with hints of orange and lime peel, while a mellow coastal salinity ran in the background. A touch of ash, black pepper, and minerality carried on the mid-palate toward a slightly bitter and herbal finish— almost like burnt citrus or charred herbs. The finish was medium-length with maritime brine, subtle fruit, and an oaky bitterness.
A quick disclosure: a friend helped select this cask for the Broken Barrel Club, a cask-buying consortium of the Aoki restaurant group and the Sullivan Family of Companies (including the local grocery store chain Foodland). He famously hates peated whiskies and did not select this specific barrel. Still, he was involved in choosing the other casks. I don't know if I graded this harder or easier due to this connection, but I prefer my entanglements to be clear.
I wanted to love this— I really thought I would— but I did not, and it is time to face facts. I did find the whisky a bit better after the bottle was open for a year or so, but only marginally so. The bottle is probably one of my greater whisky disappointments, as it was by far the most expensive bottle in the initial set of casks by the Broken Barrel Club.
The aroma featured a lovely acrid smoke that approached asphalt but always turned back; more subtle notions of citrus or cream, after a few drops of water, offered up some good complexity. The palate was where things fell short— the whisky initially felt overly saccharine, though those elements faded with time. An oaky or herbal bitterness lingered at the end, which always seemed to shove the other flavors aside so that the experience never felt well-structured or entirely coherent.
Overall, not bad, but not great. I still hold out some hope that I will return to the bottle one day and find it absolutely brilliant. If/when that occurs, I will no doubt be back to update my review.
