2009 House of MacDuff The Golden Cask Ledaig 12 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

This slow-burn Ledaig requires several passes to fathom, starting with a deep, brooding nose of stewed apples, cinnamon and cheesecake before the phenols weigh in. Normally obscured by thick peat, this feels more distillate driven. Likewise on delivery, where the initially profound, nutty malt keeps the earthy-cocoa-laced peat under wraps before an enormous bittersweet deluge of brine, pepper and ash. Lots of cereals too. More about the extraordinary weight of the malt, less about the peat, which shows this in 'purer' form. 56.6% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.