Ledaig Dusgadh 42 Year Old Scotch Aims To Be A Whisky Of A Rare Quality

The Tobermory distillery, though not quite old enough to crack the top five of Scotland’s oldest still in operation distilleries, is still an old timer nonetheless as it was established in 1798. It is considered an Island distillery in Scottish whisky circles, heralding from the island of Mull. It was originally known as Ledaig before the name changed to its current moniker, but Ledaig lives on as a brand within the distillery, representative of the small amount of peated whisky produced here. It is also under this label one of Tobermory’s oldest whiskies to date has recently been released.

The new Ledaig Dusgadh 42 Year Old expression, pricing around £3,500 ($5,180 USD roughly), is interestingly hardly mentioned by the distillery through its usual consumer facing resources (i.e. website, social media, etc). Rather, it appears to have been launched through The Whisky Shop, a prominent United Kingdom specialist retailer of all things whisky. The rare bottling (only 500 produced) got its debut in the retailer’s most recent Whiskeria magazine, in which legendary whisky writer Charles MacLean had the honor of unveiling it.

MacLean wrote in Whiskeria of the 40+ year old Scotch that it was distilled in 1972 before being aged over the next several decades “in various types of cask.” In 2001 what was left of this aging whisky was put into “Gonzales Byass oloroso sherry casks” for a few more years of maturation before bottling “to add a further layer of flavour.”

The Ledaig was bottled at 46.3% ABV. As for what it tastes like, MacLean quoted Ledaig’s master blender Ian MacMillan as saying it is “the smokiest whisky of its age he has ever encountered,” but that it is “balanced by a rich sweetness.”