Ledaig 10 Year Old

I've always been a bit of a Ledaig fan boy and have usually loved what I've had, especially the Amontillado cask one ... wowzers! The 18 was OK but I think bourbon (or a certain type of sherry ;) generally works best here.

So here is a bottle of the 10 OB. It has been open a good few months with little gone from the bottle as it had a rather off-putting note when I first opened it. Turned out the cork was bad so I aired it and changed the cork a couple of months back and here we are.

Nose - creosote, a big, fat whiff of it. In fact, it's like sniffing a freshly creosoted barn on a dairy farm. Vanilla, cream and some mild anise lie underneath.

Taste - quite a sweet arrival with lemon drops and vanilla then the farmy peat and creosote start to dominate the palate. Some very mild spices at the back.

Finish - Med. Becomes quite bitter with the tannins and I sense some tired oak in the mix. Some lemon oil and more creosote hang in there for a while.

Well, time, and a new cork, have certainly helped but this is a bit of a disappointment from my last bottle (c2016). There's much less of the anise and liquorice notes and the bitterness on the finish is a bit off-putting, frankly. Not bad, by any means, and I do like the creosote/farmy notes, but I can't help feeling a bit let down. Possibly (hopefully!) just a bad batch. Also worth noting that the colour of this bottle is very, er, orangey! So perhaps a bit heavy on the caramel ...

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