Ledaig 20 Moscatel Finish

We wrap up Ledaig week with another bottle sold directly by Tobermory at its distillery or online and it’s the oldest one of my line up. It’s a 20-year-old that spent its last three years maturing in a Moscatel sherry cask. (The refill “whisky” casks the website says it was in prior to that were presumably ex-bourbon, rather than, say, grain or rye.) Moscatel is at the sweet end of the sherry spectrum, so this could have been too sickly for my liking. I’m also suspicious of mature whisky that has been finished in wine or sweet sherry casks - pigs needing lipstick come to mind. Whatever the case, it’s turned out a beauty. The nose is lemon, heather and cracked pepper. In the mouth it’s oily with flavors of boiled lemon candy and dark maple syrup, all wrapped in a peat that pushes the spiciness to the brink before pulling back, unlike the less balanced samples this week. The finish is long and syrupy, with more lemon, a hint of pleasant tamarind sourness and a sprinkling of pepper. It’s easy drinking neat but goes well with water, which opens up the nose and accentuates the sweetness and the length of the finish, albeit at the expense of some of the mouthfeel. A creaminess emerges also. Overall, it’s very much like one of the sherry finishes in the Laphroaig Cairdeas series. That said, I did a quick comparison afterwards with last year’s Cairdeas Fino cask edition and the increased complexity of the Ledaig was noticeable. It’s not worth twice the price of the Cairdeas, but it is more of an upgrade from that very nice Laphroaig than I had expected. In summary, this was probably my favorite of the week, just ahead of the 10 and the 19. I look forward to revisiting the Isle of Mull just as soon as I can carve out the time and focus to barrel through my Tobermory samples.