A good way to end the year, marking 116 Distiller entries for 2023. I am extremely grateful to the mighty @cascode who has sent me many of my tastings this year. With one more left from him after this one I felt I would make 2023 end on a high note with this 18 year old Ledaig and distiller whisky review #250. I loved Tobermory 12 and likely need a bottle back on my shelf. Ledaig 10 I described as: “Like a surgeons scalpel this is precise and delicate, but effective. The peat is beautifully restrained and just melts into the palate. Clean, crisp, and well made. well worth the buy.” I can’t imagine this pour from the Isle of Mull will be anything less than excellent… N: A richly earthy coolness envelopes everything. The earthiness is best described as a mildly mineral and oaky tar smoke. Blended seamlessly through the wafts of cool smoke are dark chocolate, cherry, leather, citrus zest, and a delicate honey sweetness. I am almost hesitant to drink this now, what if the follow through doesn’t live up to this exceptional nose? P: Oily and full bodied with a wonderful juiciness that has me salivating. The earthy nose translates directly to the palate but reveals a slightly brown sugar-malt crunch, perhaps like cookie dough? There is refreshing sweetness from something akin to melon juice, preserved lemon rinds. Roundness and fullness get delivered by nut butter. Interest and zing from spices of pepper, ginger and the slightest chilli. Tannins are restrained and pair well with the smoke which is almost like a smouldering hay-bale. F: Long. Part oily, part dry. Wonderfully crisp, firm but gentle oak spice, creosote and the suggestion of sea-spray (lick a beach pebble; thats the suggestion). This is not a whisky that will bowl you over with complexity and nuance, it wont take you to new flavours or sensations found no where else. But, I’ll be damned if it isn’t near perfect in spite of that. This is expertly made whisky. Every component part has clearly been understood and respected; good whisky well made as it should be. Simplicity and precision need to be bought back into the limelight (I’m looking at you new world whisky; Israel, Australia, Taiwan, England). Despite being relatively straightforward there is still depth and gravitas to the profile and it will still pull you into the glass to savour every drop. Taking a leaf out of @ContemplativeFox book I know i’m not giving this a five. The four drams I have given 5/5 to are outrageous spectacles in my mind. But, I’m left wondering if this is 4.5 or 4.75. 4.75 is the territory of Talisker 18, Highland Park 18 and 25. 4.5 is busier with notable liquids of Ardbeg Uigeadail and Corryvreckan, Highland Park Mjolner, Arran Argonne, The LakesReserve, Laphroig Lore, and Talisker 8 y/o 2021. 4.75 is a pretty hallowed ground in my book and looking back at my reviews the key element through my three 4.75s is an excitement that is slightly lacking in the next bracket down. 4.5 is where this Ledaig 18 sits and it finds itself in excellent company. A very big thank you again to @cascode, and a happy new year to anyone who reads my excessively lengthy reviews here. Slainte! Distiller whisky taste #250 [Pictured here with a replica of “Mrs. Ples”. Mrs Ples is a 2.5 million year old fossil of Australopithecus africanus discovered in 1947 in Sterkfontein, South Africa. The discovery of this near complete specimen helped lend credence to the notion that South African Australopithecines were indeed hominids. Originally thought to be a female, it is no known that Mrs Ples is in fact; Mr Ples] Tobermory running scores Tobermory 12: 4/5 Ledaig 10: 3.75/5 Ledaig 18: 4.5/5