A few years ago when my kiddo nephew graduated from university, my hubby introduced him to the world of whisky. Now, whenever kiddo visits, he always gets to try some of his uncles (hubby and our brother in laws) collections. Last summer when he came to visit, he offered to bring a bottle, joking it was his membership fee to join the family whisky club. The guys were happy to accept his membership 😄
Kiddo is still a bit inexperience and didn't know which was a good buy and asked hubby for some recommendations. One of them was the Ledaig 18. I didn't realize I hadn't posted about this before. When hubby bought this out after dinner last week, I notice they've already drank half a bottle already!!! Better post about it before they drink it all.
Before we look at the whisky, let's have a little gaelic lesson - not that I know, I'm just repeating what I learnt off the internet. The name Ledaig isn't pronounced Le-dag or Led-ache or however you think it may be pronounced. You'd probably only get it right if you know gaelic. According to the internet, it is pronounced Le-chig where the d sound becomes ch. Now you know!
Back to the whisky itself. The Ledaig distillery is from the Isle of Mull, one of the outlying islands west of the Scottish mainland. The distillery is located at a place called Tobermory at north east side of the island. I love how they have literally stamped the island on the bottle, by adding the outline of the island on the top of the bottle stopper. Again I've had to resort to the internet to make sure I got the island the right way round.
You'll see the location is also printed on the label, along with 1798, the year the distillery was established. This is a 46.3% non chilled filtered 18 year old single malt scotch. I found it rather pleasant on the nose when I took a sniff. Unlike other whiskies that whacks me across ahead like gasoline, this had a pleasant citrus note. I'm told by hubby this is because it was finished in a sherry cask. Nice, for a change. I don't normally like the smell of whiskies.
Here are the other aromas one is supposed to get, sweet, peppery, over ripened apricots, toasted nuts and shery. That's a lot going on! I can never work out how people can taste so many notes in a little sip. I took a little sip, and got the citrus hint again. Hubby's verdict on this was smooth, smokey, and complex, and yes he liked it. I remember a few years ago, he said he didn't like smokey whisky. When I asked him about it, he said his palate may have changed over the years, but given the choice, he still prefers non smokey whisky. Well, I guess at least it's good that his palate has broadened.
Have a great weekend. Cheers!
