Single Monster Report: Ledaig 10 year old 2004 van Wees The Ultimate, cask 900176

Are you tired of trying to figure out how to pronounce Ledaig?

Le-DAYG?
Lay-DIG?
Led-CHIG?
Led-CHIK?
Lay-CHIG?
Lay-CHIK?
LEH-chig?
LEH-chik?
LEH-djik?
Luh-PHROIG?

Just keep it simple. Call it Tobermory Farts and you'll get to where you need to go.

Distillery: Tobermory
Brand: Ledaig
Region: Isle of Mull

Independent Bottler: van Wees (The Ultimate)

Age: 10 years (November 24, 2004 - July 6, 2015)

Maturation: Sherry Butt
Cask number: 900176
Bottles: 618

Alcohol by Volume: 61.9%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(Thank you to Florin, a prince, for this sample!)

NEAT
Nose - Seaweed, brine and chocolate. Yet it works. Peach, hints of grapefruit and plum. Maybe a little of the cereal Tobermory note in the background. Brash youthful peated spirit.
Palate - Massive vegetal herbal peat. Raging black smoke. Bits of toffee and butterscotch here and there. A bright ethyl zing. Hints of farmhouse, brown sugar, cinnamon and charred meat.
Finish - Embers, ashes, dark chocolate. Charred bell pepper. Some mint candy helps balance the heat.

WITH WATER (~50%abv)
Don't want to drop it lower. Mustn't weaken it.
Nose - Wow. Such ash. Very barbecue. Much amaze. So fruit.
Palate - Bitter, bitter smoke. Loads of salt and lemons. Still very herbal.
Finish - Monolithic smoke, horseradish and lemons.

CONCLUSION
A f***ing monster. A monster that f***s. Everyone.

Which is probably what our president-elect wants to be when he grows up.

Sorry, tangent.

It's been too long since I've tried a peatie beastie like this. Yeah, it's reads super young, but in this case, who cares. There's a place in the whisky world for creatures like this Ledaig. And, no, Ardbeg can't recreate this power with a future NAS special edition. And they clearly gave up on the recipe (or ran out of the casks) for their old-style Oogs and Corrys (Haim and Feldman, of course).

Where am I going with this? I don't know. It's been a tough day, people.

This whisky is big and silly. Forget adding water because that's not why you're drinking this whisky. Though the palate and finish are a little simple, the whisky on the whole can stand up to any experimental uber-peated whisky out there. And as discordant as those nose's notes look, they're fully in-tune though the energy of sheer violence.

Availability - Continental Europe, maybe
Pricing - €100+ (including VAT)
Rating - 88 (neat only, and not during summer)