The flywheel that is the Wu Dram Clan seems to only be gaining speed, or frequency, of their releases. Hot on the heels of the insanely good Ardbeg and Jamaican rum comes this Ledaig 25. The spiritual follow-up to last year’s 11 year old Ledaig. The one with the tentacles.

Of course, as with anything old and most-likely-very-good, it sold out instantly, so the only way to get one now seems to be the secondary market where this bottle is already going for € 400, instead of it’s original price tag.

Luckily, and I really do count myself lucky, I got a sample of it for reviewing.

Sniff:
There’s a definit smokiness, with a bit of a briny note. However, what stands out most is that the whisky itself is very clean. There’s a straw and wild flower note, but mostly it’s a very clean, almost Rosebank like spirit. Of course, with smoke. There is some yellow fruit sweetness with a hint of apple, pear and banana. After a minute a warm oakiness starts coming through.

Sip:
The palate is sharper than I expected from the ABV and the nose. There’s a lot of wood, quite some smoke and the straw note from the nose comes through, albeit a lot more dry than before. The fruitiness is here too, although that too is drier. No more banana, but pear skins, some grape seeds and a bit of star fruit.

Swallow:
The finish goes right back the very clean nose, although there’s a hint of candied lime that wasn’t there before. Smoke, oak, grass and some dry fruitiness. The finish is long where the grape seed dryness linger longest, with a whiff of smoke.

The combination of the dryness, with the clean spirit and the smoke reminds me of Ardbeg from yonder year, although this isn’t as fruity or subtle. Also, this is a whisky that requires quietly sitting down with it before it shows you all its beauty.

The combination of the dryness, and the fruit, together with the smoke and just a little sweet touch make for a very mature and contemplative whisky. Very well picked, it once again shows that whisky with a little bit of age behind it has a lot to offer. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one to have come to that conclusion…

90/100