Ledaig 42 Dùsgadh Review

Hi everyone,

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Lot been going on in my life and just have not found the motivation to write anything much about whisky.

However, I’m going to try and make more of concerted effort to keep posting reviews and helpful articles because there’s still stuff to taste and talk about and, hell, I enjoy it.

Many, many thanks go to u/UncleBaldric for the sample of this elusive dram!

 

So, this could be considered something of a white whale for me. I love Ledaig, it’s no secret, and yet I have never even seen a bottle of this open. Perhaps that’s got something to do with the fact that it’s the oldest and most expensive Ledaig ever bottled.

I had a very wonderful thing to celebrate in August last year, the birth of my first child. This was the dram I saved as something truly special to taste at the time.

In a world that seems increasingly confusing and chaotic, it is a comfort to take the time to sit with such a whisky. To sit, to be still, and, in a way, to fall into the glass…

 

Ledaig 42 Dùsgadh 46.7%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: There’s an entire world in here. Deep, rich and complex. The peat is well intact with medicinal notes of Calpol, tintures of old oils and medicinal things that have long past their use by date, old petrol soaked rags, kerosene, very old Jamacian rum, sea water, samphire, bandages, old sticking plasters. The Sherry comes in with a wave of dark fruit, raisin and figs, Christmas pudding, cinnamon, saffron, toffee apple and a touch of wild strawberry, lavender, some wood smoke. Developing into the most amazing and exotic dark chocolate money can buy. Oh, and add exotic black coffee too. There's so many layers to this and its constantly evolving and changing in wonderful ways. Beautiful, layered nose.

Taste: Soft and sweet arrival, lacking a touch of power to begin with before the peat comes in, very softly with coal dust, burnt paper, ash, some soft florals, a touch of lavender. Of course there's some oak but it's restrained for 42yo, some rich spices with saffron. Really chewy mouthfeel. Though the nose felt like it was more about the smoke, this is more about the Sherry I would say. Tobacco and dark chocolate going into the finish.

Finish: Long/Very Long length. More of the smoke here, plenty of tobacco, raisin, coals, even some blackberry actually. Then more drying oak and some very soft spice. Really long but very soft finish.

Distilled 1972, Gonzales Byass Oloroso Sherry finish from 2001 and bottled 2014. Dùsgadh means Awakening. Really very special stuff. I could nose this for hours! Having said that, this suffers from a very minor floral/soapy note that I've found in 1972 Tobermory's from Sherry casks too.

89/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #865

Whisky Network Review #1039

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

 

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Brora 1972 Cask Sample [Road to #1000, Review #999]

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to explore something that we must all deal with when reviewing and assessing whisky; rarity.

A few reviews ago I gave the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye an 78/100. The 15yo Pappy got 75/100. To be clear, these are good scores. They class these whiskies as ‘Very Good.’ Some people seemed upset that I had given such ‘low’ scores to such rare and expensive whiskies.

But are rare and expensive whiskies worth such huge costs?

In my opinion, no. The most I would ever pay for a whisky is £200 and I have not gone over this amount for a 70cl bottle. The reason for this is that I don’t have loads of money to drop on whiskies that could be good or are rare. I have also found that the value for money goes down rapidly after the £50-£60 mark.

Really, after £200, I have found that whisky does not get better, only more rare.

And we must deal with another question; are rarer and more expensive whiskies deserving of higher scores?

The obvious answer to this is that, no, just because a whisky is rare and/or expensive it should not get a higher score. However, it isn’t as simple as all that. It is easy to start believing the hype before you’ve even tasted a whisky. You can easily convince yourself that the whisky truly is wonderful, it must be, because people pay so much for it.

 

With that in mind, this is the rarest, most ridiculous sample I have ever managed to get my hands on. Brora is rare enough in and of itself but the 1972 vintage is the one that is hyped and people rave about because Brora was the most heavily peated then. This is a cask sample of a still maturing whisky from a single cask that will likely never be bottled. It is old at 47 years in the cask, perhaps the oldest Brora ever tasted. Only a few people will ever taste this whisky, ever.

Brora 1972 Cask Sample 40.1%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Stupidly complex, oils and fruits and wax galore, the best strawberry fruit pastilles ever made, faint smoke, crushed seashells, very Clynelish actually, gorgeous honey, Oolong tea, green tea. More woody and spicy as it opens up- black pepper, complex chocolate notes, then more fruity with fragrant orange peel.

Taste: Soft and lacking power at first, builds though with an emotionality, smoky, wood and oak, tired wood, black tea, leather and old books, very very dry, some black pepper and very light salt, dried orange peel, then the oils and waxes I was looking for. Good mouthfeel for the strength.

Finish: Short length. More smoky here with malty, oils, some fruit and loads of chocolate.

47yo cask sample for the Brora masterclass at the 2019 Whisky Exchange Show. The nose is stellar but the taste and finish are too dry and tired as well as lacking power from the low strength. A shame that this wasn't bottled 20 years ago! A massive, massive thank you to the legend Colin Dunn for letting me try this!! Oh, and thank you to Jason for the photo because I forgot to take one.

As with the 1964 Longmorn, I can give this a score but truly it was more of an experience.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #834

Whisky Network Review #999

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

2x Tobermory 1972 IB Reviews

Hi everyone,

So I’ve recently been at two festivals with some awesome whisky. First was Whisky in Leiden where I tasted this first Tobermory 1972, I then tasted another one in Limburg the other day. Tasting it, I thought ‘I bet this is a sister cask,’ and as it turned out it was distilled on the same day!

At that point in Tobermory/Ledaig history the distillery was still called Ledaig and it had just been brought back from being closed for 42 years.

Tobermory 1972 Alembic 49.6%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Full rich old school Sherry, deep perfume, slightly earthy with mud, lovely floral notes, really complex, slight medicinal note, cinnamon and raisins. AMAZING nose.

Taste: So soft, sweet Sherry, rich fruit, fig, honey, beeswax, orange peel, floral then a little soapy, the mouthfeel is a bit off too. Oak in there as well. Time in the mouth is what it needs to reveal its full complexity.

Finish: Long length. Agh, soapy with the Sherry trying and failing to pull it up. Very late it succeeds with the help of a medicinal twang. More earthy then as it opens up.

Many thanks go to Bram of the whisky nerds bottler for this sample from a little 20cl bottle bottled in 2006 at 33yo. The soap does tone down after a bit but old Tobermory/Ledaig was always known to be hit or miss with many misses and few hits!

85/100

 

Tobermory 1972 Whisky Doris 49.4%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Deep and rich, a soapy note like 'love hearts,' parma violets, dark prune and fig, raspberry, sticky sweet, coffee beans, black cherry.

Taste: So soft then builds waves of sweetness and old oak, black coffee, stewed raisin, prune, rich spices then drier into the finish. Mouthfeel is a bit off again.

Finish: Long length. Black dark oak and chocolate notes, black coffee.

Bottled 35yo. With water the nose opens up and you get more Sherry but the taste becomes more soapy.

82/100

Distillery: Tobermory

Average Score: 80.0

Distillery Ranking: 9th/ 61 places

Up/Down: Down 1 (8>9)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #614-#615

Whisky Network Reviews #728-#729

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ardbeg 1972 OMC Sherry Finish (2001) Review

Hi everyone,

Today I’ve got more special whiskies from a special event. Yes, the Whiskybase Gathering in Rotterdam was pretty epic. And fresh off finding a whisky that finally scored 93, I was looking for something else to blow my mind.

Step in 1972 Ardbeg. Something I’ve been searching for for quite a while. Both the 1976’s I’ve tried have been awesome. Big, big expectations for this.

Remember, back then Ardbeg had its own maltings and the peating levels dropped throughout the 70’s, to the point that the early 80’s were almost completely unpeated. Meaning this should have been a pretty heavily peated one.

 

Ardbeg 1972 Old Malt Cask Sherry Finish 50%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Clean and dirty. Lime juice, complex grapefruit with juice, peel and rind, sooty and a little floral, something frying in the next room, oils, scorched wood, quite light actually. Big medicinal notes too.

Water: Better balance with a drop of water. A bit more smoke and a little more intensity.

Taste: Great very soft arrival, long development, very oily, lime, lots of soot, grapefruit, lemon, sharp sour citrus juice (really good!), white pepper, a little fizzy-esque-ness.

Water: Better here too, more complex, more spicy and dry, more mineral. Chalk, slate and sea salt.

Finish: Long length. Not too complex but oily and sooty.

Bottled 2001. Not nearly as complex as I was expecting, and didn’t meet those big expectations I’m afraid. I think perhaps the Sherry finish just took a little of that complexity off this one. Still bloody good and very drinkable. A step up from the 1976's I've had so it deserves...

90/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #552

Whisky Network Review #647

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

[Scotland Stag] Raid on the Craig Round 2: Quaich-ing in my boots!

Hi everyone,

For the last night of the trip, of course we had to head back to the Craigellachie Hotel for another round of epic whisky tasting.

I wouldn’t say Ar-ran all the way there, but we were pretty eager to get back!

We got there after 8pm and stayed till closing, which was 1am, when we had to throw in the Tomin-towel. Unfortunately, a wedding party came in at 12:58 and I’m pretty sure Lyndsey was up, keeping them happy for another few hours. We felt really guilty, if it weren’t for us maybe she could have closed just before they arrived!

At least for us, it was another great night of chatting, tasting and laughing (mostly at whisky related puns).

The great epiphany of the night was that Ardmore can be incredible whisky and I should point out that Tom's favourite whisky of the trip was a G&M Ardmore 1996, even above the old Glenfarclas’ we tried.

Bladnoch 1992 Berry Bros & Rudd 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Delicate floral and herbal, backed up by malt, deep musky, musty notes, nice sour green apple and lemon citrus, dried grass and flowers.

Taste: Sweetness first then dry and oaky. Herbal and floral complexity, old dried flowers, lemony and sour in a great way.

Finish: Medium length. Pleasant, grassy with lots of dry oak.

A few berries with water. This was a really good one, very impressed with what I’ve tried from Bladnoch so far.

78/100

 

Glengoyne Spring 1972 (Bottled 1998) 55%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: On this trip, if we could say ‘really’ about something, we would use the suffix -af (as in ‘as fuck). This smells OLD-AF, like Highland Park 40 levels of old, dry oak, some red apple, old dried heather, a little perfumed, a little nutty, dried orange peel.

Taste: Sharp oak, lots of oak and red apple, black pepper spice, then a mix of unexpectedly spritzy spirit and old oak. Red berry, dried flowers and a herbal edge.

Finish: Short/Medium Length. Surprisingly short, dried heather then a little chocolate.

What an amazing vintage to be able to try. Many people say it’s a magical vintage for whisky, well Serge mostly. This was great, but a little out of balance.

80/100

Craigellachie 21 Single Cask Hotel Exclusive 57.2%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Big big whisky. Robust is the word here. Old oils, rich sherry, dried fruit, complex layers of flavour, complex spices.

Opens up with water, giving some berries and musky oak.

Taste: Rich, robust, then a softer wave, then builds back up again, with rich spices chocolatey oak, dried fruit from the Sherry. Oily and mouth coating. Complex chocolate.

Finish: Long length. A burst of Sherry, then orange, oils, lovely heathery chocolate going on and on. Very complex finish, also delicious.

Wonderful. First taste was emotional, which usually denotes a 90’s score but I didn’t get the experience again and I think this is just as good as the Ledaig 1973 from the day before so…

89/100

Ardmore SMWS 66.99 8yo ‘Custom’ Virgin Oak Finish 60%

Pine smoked salmon and burning heather

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Full

Nose: A bit strange. Really intense smoke, peat, a bit meaty with fried pork fat, vinegar, salt & vinegar crisps, perfumed bourbon-esque oak, salty samphire, some ‘green’ oak. BIG vanilla and chewy fruit gums too.

Taste: Soft start, then HUGE intense peat! and spicy pepper, loads of oak, toffee, salted caramel, salt & vinegar, tastes like the smell of a Chippy. Wat?

Finish: Short length. Leaves suddenly, but some spices. Bit of a let down.

No idea what ‘custom’ means? But we had a good laugh trying to figure it out. A great whisky till the finish but completely different from a lot of others, which really makes it stand out. With water you get more youth coming out with a sooty finish.

82/100

Glen Grant 9.104 27yo SMWS 55.5%

Lychee Martini

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Atypical, almost seems like the SMWS bottlings I‘ve tried so far go out of their way to be very different to the usual distillery profile. Fruit salad on this one, melon, green grape, raisin, nuts, hazelnut. Wither water it gets more leafy and green with lettuce.

Taste: Intense, beautiful Sherry and fresh raisin, stewed fruit, some light malt, some intense spicy oak, European oak maybe?, walnut, hazelnut and melon too. With water it goes quite intensely spicy then fresh fruit with fruity chewy sweets.

Finish: Short length. Another short finish, damn. Fades quickly with a tiny bit of oak.

A bit of a weird one in the end, the nose is a bit too green and it loses all balance with water. The short finish is another let down too. A shame. Still good, don’t get me wrong!

77/100

Other drams we tried but I didn’t make notes on:

Ardmore 14 Douglas Laing Old Particular- Very Good

Glenburgie 9 SMWS 71.43 1st Fill Sherry- OK but overwhelmed by the Sherry

Ardmore 1996 Gordon & MacPhail- Tried it before and thought it was very good, but Tom loved it.

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #399-#403

Whisky Network Reviews #445-#449

Network Average: 74.5

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?