Ledaig 18 Year Old 1994 Connoisseurs Choice

I recently was offered the possibility to try no less than nine Ledaig from Gordon & Macphail’s Connoisseurs Choice head-to-head, all distilled between 1990 and 2004 and bottled between 2011 and 2017. Well, that was an opportunity I could not pass up. Let’s give those a go. This is the Ledaig that was distilled in 1994 and bottled in 2013. It matured on Refill American Hogsheads. I had tried this one before, in June 2014, but gladly return to it.

On the nose I get lots of vanilla and honey, joined by a basket full of garden herbs and a hint of white fruit. Rotting plants. Gingerbread and a whiff of white pepper.

Nicely oily and pretty feisty, so that’s good. But again hardly any peat and not at all ‘dirty’. Lots of apples and pears on the palate, mostly the latter. Suddenly I do get a lovely development of smoke.

I experience the finish as medium long, relatively peppery with a floral note, if not perfume-y.

I confess, I’m not head over heals with this one.

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