Ledaig 2011 7 Year Old Bordeaux Cask Signatory for TWE

Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange

• Nose

  Lime and orange peel lead, muddled with a handful of black peppercorns and spicily fragrant. Damp peat smoke follows, with hints of classic Ledaig black rubber and sweet mezcal-like spirit. Sweet and earthy notes build, with sultanas and plump raisins following. Salted caramel, with lots of salt, hides at the back.

• Palate

  Softer, sweeter and rounder than the nose suggested, with white chocolate alongside sweet peat and barbecued bacon. The peppery notes from the nose burst through the middle, with dark earth and liquorice notes following. Gravel, ferns and raisins develop – green, mineral-rich and fruity.

• Finish

  Fruit leads: grapes, apples and pears. Liquorice follows, wit more apples and barley sugar building as it fades.

• Comment

  Sweet and peat – the cask has had a very different effect to that which I expected, adding a sweet grape notes to a chunky Ledaig. A wine cask I can get behind.