May Day Part 2 - Gordon and Macphail Connoisseur's Choice Ledaig (1999 - 2015)

This was one of the two bottles I picked up for myself from La Maison du Whisky's sale three weekends ago, the other being Compass Box's Great King Street Glasgow Blend. That one remains unopened. The Ledaig was opened last Saturday, when JE and DW came over. Initially, we had the Aberlour 18 at DW's place, but we had made a bet on the Manchester United vs. Leicester City game. If Man U won, we would each have a shot of a Hibiki 12. If Leicester won the match, and the title, we would crack open DW's Craigellachie 31. However, if the match ended in a draw, we would all down a shot of the Crown Royal North Harvest Rye. The match finished 1-1. 

After downing our shot of the "Whisky of the Year" (according to Jim Murray) (JE downed his in one gulp, reasoning that he didn't want to prolong the suffering), we were all dissatisfied. The night should not have ended thus. Result: we came over to my place for a second round of drinks and we had the Hakushu 18, Springbank 12, and this Ledaig.

G&M Connoisseur's Choice Ledaig (apparently pronounced Le-chig) 1999 - 2015 (46% abv)

Colour - Pale, just slightly darker than white wine. Maybe a little like a Moscato?

Nose - This dram assaults the nose powerfully. Wasabi, pepper, and then a lot of bacon and ham - proscuitto? Parma? Sweet cured meat, as advertised on the bottle. This is very salty too. The saltiest I've every nosed. Some lemon and lime, and apple rind. Rather unique in both its intensity and nose profile. JE says that this was very "fun". Such a vague word.

Palate - Lots of salt. Pepper, cigar ash, green bananas. Apple, from the part of the fruit just surrounding the core of a green apple. Still very meaty. Vanilla. Some riper apples after a while. Apple stewed in cinnamon?

Finish - cigar ash, vegetal peat. It is still a bit salty. This saltiness seems to be the hallmark of this vintage.

With water:

Nose - it develops an additional note that smells somewhere between baby's puke, and an oatmeal porridge (both of which don't rank high in my list of favourites). The rest of it remains more or less the same, with the pepper and ham toned down, but a little more smoke and peat. The salt remains.

Palate - Water makes this a bit more acidic, so a bit sharper, and a bit more sour. The sour-ness feels like the type of sour you get when biting into a berry. With water, the palate is sweeter and less salty.

Finish - the ash and smoke fade away, while the pepper lingers longer.

Overall - This is different. Not as amazing as the Springbank 12 we had just before it, but pretty good and quite unique. The meatiness in this when drunk neat is quite something to behold. I feel that it's better without water.

JE said that he would be willing to pay up to $180 for this, while DW said that he's maybe willing to pay $150. I bought this for under $80. Yay. Long live LMDW's sale!