Soba45
Ledaig 18 Year
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
November 4, 2017 (edited January 20, 2021)
I remember with the 10 it was a mild dislike then a love (a few days later) then after a few months back to apathy as the flavours quickly faded away. Given that i decided to judge this on day 2 it really hasn't improved unfortunately. I love a good peated whisky and i could drown myself in the richness of say a Lore. The peat here has more an acidic/bitter sharpness along with heavish salt profile that makes it really difficult to elicit the remaining flavours. Occasionally i get a glimpse of sherry and other aspects such as clove as they suggest. I know how this tale will most likely end, time will not mellow the overpowering aspects of this dram enough for me to enjoy a balance of flavor, and at $140USD a bottle it's a 3. I paired it with the An Oa as they have a certain characteristic they share. Not the same flavor profile but perhaps the sharpness on the tongue. It will be sacrificed to the whisky group session I'm having on Friday although they for the most part weren't willing drinkers of the faded remnants of my 10 year so not sure how it will be received.
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@Ctrexman I think from memory if you enjoy the 10 you'll like the 18. Quite similar underlying profiles. Quite a big price difference though and not really worth it from memory.
Im enjoying a bottle of the 10 now and Im disappointed you find the 18 so underwhelming. Was on my wish list
Yeah I didn't really see much of a major difference between the 18 and 10 from memory other than the price difference being over 2 1/2 times between them. Yeah it's a hard one. Batch variation, differing tastes who knows :-) I think my taste preference has changed a bit over the last year. I know it has definitely with beer. Its definately a polarising dram I haven't really seen as much variance between our distiller tasting group over whether its a good one or not, there is usually greater alignment
I found the 10 to be a little better than the 18 as well. Not that either was bad, I just preferred the profile of the 10
Interesting. This LeDaig 18 was a torch bearer for me for quite a while. I was singing this whisky’s praises for months and long after the bottle was empty. I still have it ranked in my Top 10 overall, too. Several reviewers have echoed your thoughts and it now has me second guessing what it was I loved about this malt. Do I dare spend another $150 to get to the bottom of this? Lol. Great review, nonetheless. Cheers.