3x older Ledaig's: 1993, 1994 & 1997 Reviews

Hi everyone,

The heavily peated Ledaig wasn’t officially re-produced until 1996, meaning that there isn’t a huge amount of the older stuff out there.

What there is is sometimes mislabelled Tobermory, and at other times, only lightly peated. Here’s a few today that I’ve tasted recently.

Ledaig 1993 Wilson & Morgan 51%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: The smoke has had time to oxidise giving it more fruit- More like a Talisker really, red apple, black pepper, sea salt, some orange, smoke backing it all, nicely balanced. More funky with time, some cheddar cheese, something slightly savoury.

Taste: Sharp and sour start, acidic red apple and spiky oak, green and black peppercorns, again quite Talisker-like, quite spicy, maritime smoke and sea salt and lemon.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Power gone completely, a little red apple, dry oak and spice left. Bit of a disappointing finish.

Bottled 2018 at 25yo. A Ledaig in my year! Could easily be an old Talisker. Great nose but it gets more and more tired as the taste goes on.

74/100

 

Ledaig 1994 Gordon & Macphail 47.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Lemon, grapefruit and sea salt, ozone, a little light cherry and some light cheese lurking in the background, rock pools and sea wind, gives a sense of open space.

Taste: A little weak to start, salt and lemon, grapefruit and cherry, then it gets going with dirty soot and orange, very oily, funk-mozzarella?, green olives and brine.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Fades quite quickly with some salted chocolate, black pepper and green olives.

Bottled 2017 as an exclusive for Germany. Unpeated Ledaig the rep told me... Soooo NOT Ledaig then?

75/100

Ledaig 1997 Cadenhead's 53.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Salinity at first nosing. Sea salt, coastal with a far off beach bonfire, oysters, grilled prawns and green olive. Also leather and classy oak, chocolate powder. A little more chocolatey over time with milk chocolate and praline. Very nice and really interesting nose. Not full of the usual Ledaig powerful smoke, but more restrained.

Water: Fresher, more coastal, oily and a little fresh rubber. Pencil eraser. Not such a fan of this style, preferred it neat.

Taste: Citrus arrival, lemon and then a wonderful transition into a more active development. More of that citrus, lemon, orange and lime juice all mixed together, some smoke but more complex coastal flavours coming through. A little green olive, sea salt, salt rimmed margarita. Oily.

Water: Softer and less citric, less acidity, builds slowly with some lemon, earthy notes, some vanilla, leather, then more and more salty with that salt rimmed margarita.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oily citrus juice continues then more gristy malt and leathery smoke.

Aged 19 years, from a Bourbon hogshead. Better neat IMO. So glad I bought a bottle of this when I spied it in the Netherlands.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #740-#742

Whisky Network Reviews #878-#880

Network Average: 75.1

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?

Ledaig 2001 & 1997 Douglas Laing Reviews

Hi everyone,

As you can imagine, I have quite a few Ledaig reviews in the pipeline, mostly because I don’t want to bombard you with them all at once but I’ve got two today that it makes sense to post together as they are both from the same bottler, recent and still available.

If you didn’t know, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular range have two different strengths; the younger, less expensive ones are bottled at 48.4% and the older and more expensive at 51.5% or cask if they’re under that, therefore the different strengths on these.

Ledaig 2001 Douglas Laing 48.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Ah, a good one. A funky and slightly rancid but delicious sweetness, rotting orange, cigarette smoke, creamy, vanilla and peaches.

Taste: Lacking a bit of power, orange then building smoke, ashes. Quite oaky and spicy here as it develops but doesn’t quite balance with the rest.

Finish: Medium length. More chocolate orange, dry oak. A distinct lack of smoke here.

15yo. Lovely nose but a disappointing palate. Can't help but think this would have been better kept at cask strength, as we encountered with the other Old Particular Ledaig I’d had.

73/100

 

Ledaig 1997 Douglas Laing 50.6%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Pork crackling, gristy smoke, lemon citrus and sea salt, white sausage and some nice smoked cheese, very savoury nose. Ash and clean peat smoke, sugared almonds.

Taste: Lovely clean arrival, amazingly oily mouthfeel, some drying oak, easy ginger spice, peat, sea salt and lemon, slightly fizzy- lemon sherbet.

Finish: Long length. More peaty with some minerals, lemon and salt. Some black pepper. Talikserishness.

Released 2018 at 21yo. Lovely, a good one from the older ones. Really love the nose because it’s delicious and savoury. Still, not quite up there with the best of them. Still, these older Ledaig’s do seem to struggle to retain the complexity and purity of their youth.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #711-#712

Whisky Network Reviews #848-#849

Network Average: 75.1

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?

Glengoyne 8 Single Minded & Fettercairn 1997 High Spirits Reviews

Hi everyone,

On a stag do near Rome we knocked on the door and it was opened only a split second later by hipster-type barmen, welcoming us into their prohibition bar. We missed the real entrance, located in a cupboard inside a Chinese restaurant.

In a surreal, slightly alcohol blurred, version of vision I assessed the range of whiskies behind the bar and found myself impressed. Independent bottlings. Cask strength stuff. Bottles with weird circus stuff on the front. This was clearly a quality establishment. I glanced to the left and found a range of Mezcal too, recommending one to the groom with the bartender’s choice of cocktail.

Finding myself drinkless I ask the barmen to move everything aside so I can have a look at the bottle at the very back. I’ll have a single I say.

 

Glengoyne 8 Single Minded 43%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Heathery and malty, zingy orange citrus, candied orange peel, some dry American oak, Madagascan vanilla pod, milky coffee. Lovely nose.

Taste: Very soft arrival, a little watery to start, heather and malt, honey and orange, quite zingy, lemon, more chocolate and malt into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Milk chocolate, malty biscuits, some spice, fresh ginger and some heather.

The Highland Park of the Highlands strikes again. Really impressive young whisky.

75/100

Fettercairn 1997 High Spirits 46%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Oaky, malt, floral, grass, liquorice, fennel, dried pineapple, nutty and herbaceous.

Taste: Soft, aged leather, oaky, floral, some grass then dried pineapple, nice soft development.

Finish: Long length. Again very soft, some grass, floral, nutty with peanut and cashews.

I haven’t had a lot of Fettercairn but I was expecting more from this as an older single cask, although I do have to say that this is still very nice. Strikes me as quite a Lowland style of whisky.

76/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #655-#656

Whisky Network Reviews #788-#789

Network Average: 75.0

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?

Glenburgie 1997 Cooper's Choice (Sherry Cask) Review

Hi everyone,

Been mega busy with work at the moment, so although I’ve got a tonne of reviews in the pipeline, the pipeline might stay fairly full of reviews.

Glenburgie has growing in various people’s estimations recently, including mine, particularly from Sherry casks. So when I saw this one in a bar in the Netherlands, I knew to go for it.

 

Glenburgie 1997 Cooper’s Choice 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Loads of cherry, sweet Sherry, malt under that, golden and black raisins, Macallan-esque. Cherry lip chewy sweets.

Taste: Sweet and soft, golden raisin and malt like a Macallan then rich cherry, some red apple, some ginger and oak coming in, good modern oak.

Finish: Medium length. More red apple and cherry, some dry oak, soft.

19yo, bot 2017. Sherry cask. With a little more mouthfeel this would be fantastic. Nice cask. More funk needed too!

80/100

Distillery: Glenburgie

Average Score: 78.3

Distillery Ranking: 16th/ 60 places

Up/Down: 21>16 (Up 5)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #623

Whisky Network Review #741

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?

Clynelish 1997 Carn Mor (Sherry Cask) Review

Hi everyone,

This was a bottling I’ve wanted to try for a while. Big strength, Sherry cask, 1997 Clynelish. What’s not to like?

Luckily for me I’ve been at the whisky festival Noord Nederland in Groningen, which felt more like a crazy party weekend than work. Great, great festival though with a great bunch of awesome people. Not often I give an 89, 92 and 94 within 2 days either!

 

Clynelish 1997 Carn Mor 57%

Colour: Amber

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Not what I expected at all! Meaty yet light and floral, pomegranate, sour green apple, freshly washed linen, raspberry and black pepper. Fragrant.

Water: Much better, classy oak, some wax now, lovely red apple.

Taste: Soft, sweet and building meaty Sherry, fruit and spice. Floral but quite light. Lots of oak into the finish.

Water: Better integrated.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Lovely, by far the best part of this dram, classy oily oak, dunnage.

Thought this would be a big sweet Sherry cask, waxy Clynelish. Nope. None of that here. Instead its light and floral, almost Lowland like in its style.

81/100

Distillery: Clynelish

Average Score: 79.7

Distillery Ranking: 10th/64 places

Up/Down: Up 1

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #596

Whisky Network Review #706

Network Average: 74.6

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?

Ledaig x4: Wilson Morgon, LMDW, Signatory & Douglas Laing Showdown

Hi everyone,

I recently wrote an article on why I love Ledaig so much, so you can head over there for more background on how obsessed I am.

I’ve reviewed a bunch of Ledaig already but I realised I hadn’t posted many from my own collection, so here are some of the Sherried ones. Four Ledaigs, each more Ledaig than the last!

Ledaig 2005 Wilson & Morgan 48.5%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Lots of butter on this one. Strikes a good balance between the oily/natural Ledaig and the meaty/Sherry Ledaig. Cherry pie, lemon and orange, malty smoke, sea salt, quite Laga 16 like actually with the light Sherry and smoke.

Water: Fresher with more of the citrus elements now, orange and lemon, grist, clean smoke, still oily though. Grapefruit after a minute, chalky.

Taste: Soft and oily, buttery natural Ledaig, not much of the Sherry but some orange and lemon citrus, some leather, malty smoke, some drier oak then into the finish. The Butter-y-ness really takes me back to the first time I tried Ledaig… (back in review #87!) mmmmm, delicious memories.

Water: Softer with a better balance, particularly in the development and finish. Fresher and maltier with more of the citrus at first then more earthy into the finish. The peat starts coming out a little more after a bit more time with more power.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Goes a little out of balance with some rubber, lemon and black pepper.

A vatting of 6 Sherry finished casks bottled in 2015. A drop of water really brings this one together, as I suspected it might on first tasting it.

78/100

Ledaig 2004 Artist #5 60.4%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Ethereal and quite closed at first, think this will take some time to oxidise. You get a sense of the sweetness and smoke. Starts to open up after 10+ mins with BIG Glendro-esque sherry, flinty, leather, overbrewed tea, cherry stones. Coming back to it after half the bottle I'm getting diving gear after a dive, sea soaked neoprene wetsuit, wet leather and coal. Complex, and quite different to most Ledaigs I’ve tried.

Water: Frustratingly closed for me! Cherry syrup? Wet hay? Hot coals? More straightforward sweetness, orange.

Taste: Soft actually, builds though. Potent stuff this. Sweet, big sweetness, cherry, very rich, intense toffee, leather, some dry oak backs it up. All about slow power. When that recedes, you then get some of the Ledaig peppery meaty smoke. Dirty, sooty, wet hay, wet rocks, salty. Coming back after half the bottle, there's a lot more of the smoke now, with lots of wet hay, a little Brora-like barnyard, fields and cowpat and heavy sweetness.

Water: Softer, more Ledaig-like with peppery spices, black pepper, some meatiness, hot coals, soot, gristy smoke, gritty, mineral with crushed slate maybe? Very oily with the water actually, really clings to the mouth.

Finish: Long length. More dirty, sooty smoke, kiln, engine and mouth watering oils. After time in the bottle there's more of the barnyard with cow shit... Um, in a good way.

Cask 900179, distilled 2004, bottled 2015 at 10yo. I was disappointed with this at first tasting (probably would have scored it in the low 80’s) as it’s more Sherry than Ledaig but there's more Brora elements after some time in the bottle, which, of course, is brilliant. Water doesn’t improve it despite the strength.

87/100

Ledaig 2005 Signatory Cask Strength 58%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: OhmyfuckinggodLedaigissogoddamngood! Sweet, smoky, meaty, peppery and complex. It's got that venison thing I found in 900161, sweet Oloroso soaked raisins and nuts, nice touch of leather, lifting icing sugar and fresh orange citrus. A little wood polish, vanilla and lovely dark chocolate notes develop. After a little bit you get some of the farmy ledaig notes, wet hay and straw, earthy. Gorgeous nose.

Water: A fascinating and rather lovely combination of dark and light. Dark chocolate and fresh coffee, more of the lifting orange peel and fresh juice than before. Cinnamon comes through too. Actually, it gets sweeter and sweeter with more time- Orange juice, orange chewing gum.

Taste: Intense, powerful. Peppery and spicy to start, lots of cracked black pepper, ginger, a little cinnamon develops then green peppercorns, complex meaty, Sherry, nuts, walnut, leather, more meaty venison, then plum and peppery meat. There is a bit of lifting pomegranate mid-palate but it's a bit swamped by the spices.

Water: Softer and less spicy, more balance, more orange. Black pepper, pastrami, chilli chocolate.

Finish: Long length. Oily and mouth coating, sooty and slightly dirty with sweetness then spiciness.

Cask 900160, 1st Fill Sherry Butt. Distilled 08/11/2005, bottled 22/11/2016 at 11yo. A real tour de force of everything I love about Ledaig. Power, complexity and balance.

86/100

Ledaig 1997 Old Particular 48.1%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: A slightly sulphury one. That Sherried meaty Ledaig with cheap bacon, outdoor BBQ smoke, raw steak, raw venison, pulled pork in BBQ sauce. Not a dram for vegetarians. Alongside it is a big malty and gristy smokiness, some golden raisins, orange, rubber and leather, dark chocolate, some sweeter syrupy fruit in a crumble, Weetabix and a touch of peppery oak. It IS a little feinty with this chemical chlorine thing, but it pulls it off. Just.

Taste: Thin arrival, not much developing then a big spiciness comes in with an explosion of black pepper and a kind of sulphury meatiness, that raw venison note, then darker notes of rubber, leather, dark fruity with raisin, fig, some date, 85% dark chocolate and then softens again into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. Some sweetness from the sherry fights it off with the dying smoke. A little harsh peppery note.

I can totally understand why people don't like this, and it's not exactly balanced but it's my type of dram. Loads of complexity to the nose, bit spicy on the taste but the finish lets it down. As the level has been going down in the bottle it’s been getting softer and softer.

78/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #586-#589

Whisky Network Reviews #691-#694

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

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?