First things first.

• I have no experience with Ledaig from the 1970s.
• I do have some experience with Ledaig from the last 20 years or so.
• I do not like those whiskies.

Every time I try one I hope that it’ll change my mind about the brand. I’ve tried several on different ages, ABVs, cask types, all parameters have been checked. So far, some have been interesting, some have been utterly terrible, none have been great.

I’ve checked with all posts on the blog here, and apparently I had a Berry’s Own Selection bottling that I rated with four stars back in the day when I still rated things. It might have been a rather good one, but I can’t remember it (unlike some others, which I rated with anything from 0 to 2 stars).

Of course, this is heavily opinionated since there are plenty of folks who really enjoy them. It also helps that they are generally fairly cheap to get hold of. Another indicator is that this is the only sample I got from Whiskybase of a bottling that is sold out.

Ledaig 2005 Archives. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Young and clean, with boat loads of peat. Slightly fishy but sweet nonetheless. It does have a touch of fruit, I’m thinking peach. The plant thingy I found in the Glenrothes of yesterday is here too, but it veers towards moss more than anything else. Moss covering rocks in a small creek or so. Some heather too.

Sip:
It’s very sharp and rather bitter too. The 62.8% alcohol explains the sharpness of course. It does have that small creek flavour here too, it tastes a bit ‘wet’ or watery. Some chili peppers, moss, heather and other plants. A small hint of sulphur like in cooked vegetables. The sharpness doesn’t ease much.

Swallow:
The finish is exactly the same as the flavour. Maybe slightly more spicy, but not by much.

Let’s put my summary of this dram in a politically correct way first: If you generally like Ledaig, you’ll love this one too. It has all aspects of the whisky neatly covered, including it’s price.

Slightly less politically correct: I found this another unconvincing Ledaig. It’s definitely not a bad whisky, but the peat/sulphur combination just puts me off. It’s the same with, for example, BenRiach Authenticus.

So, after all is said and done, this is a whisky that will appeal to many but not to me. I just can’t seem to get the hang of drams like this.

Ledaig 7yo, 2005, 62.8%, Archives for Whiskybase, Fishes of Samoa series. Sold out now but used to cost about € 45.