Pleasing to be back in action in time for a release of peated 42 – though looking back over the month’s I’ve missed, it seems that there’s been a fair number of Ledaig releases from the Society. This one is noted as heavily peated and hails from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. High hopes here.
Nose: Asphalt and lemon-tinged cleaning fluid join pickling juice, langoustine and notes of swimming pool changing rooms. Brine, sea salt and sandy beaches reinforce a real sense of salinity. Reduction offers sea shells and tarred rope alongside smoked fish stew, boiled potatoes and touches of developing rubber tyre.
Taste: Bolder now. Sweet smoked apple and Lemon Pledge join salt-baked cod before a wave of iodine, felt roofing and engine exhaust joins fish stew, salted prawns, beach groynes and BBQ briquettes. Dilution adds candied sweetness, but also some medicinalness with TCP, ash and tar alongside resinous oak, pepper and cask char.
Finish: Long – mingling pungent peat with a salty tang.
Named after my second favourite John Carpenter film – this pleasingly doesn’t disappoint. All the modern Ledaig motifs are present and correct here – and there’s an attractive emphasis on rocky salinity that really sits both the distillate style and a refill cask that lets the spirit do the talking. Unsurprisingly recommended.