Side by side: 5 from Tobermory via Paul

The Isle of Mull is home to a couple of distilleries now, the oldest being @TobDistillery, a favourite of @pswhisky

Paul shared with us a set of 3 unpeated and 2 peated Ledaig bottlings.

Here's my thoughts:

Dram	Tobermory 20yo	Tobermory 2007 12yo Port Pipe	Tobermory 17yo Oloroso	Ledaig 2008 12yo Marsala	Ledaig 9yo Bordeaux
Characteristics	17 years in bourbon & 3 years in sherry 46.3% ABV	Refill hogsheads & Port pipes 58.6% ABV	Oloroso sherry casks 55.9% ABV	Bourbon & Marsala wine casks (casks #912 - #914) 58.1% ABV	Bordeaux red wine casks 56.8% ABV
Bottler notes
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Reddy gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and take an age to fall as slow thin legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Musty dunnage funk, vanilla, dried apricots, red apples and orange marmalade. There's some herbal, forest floor, pine type notes. A little time and air offers dried fruit notes, dates, almonds and some gingerbread.	This has a difficult to describe 'thick' smell - you just know it's going to be chewy! Initially sweet with red berries, strawberries,  black grapes, liquorice and caramel. There's the Tobermory orange marmalade character and a little dry musty funk.	Red berries, dates, figs, plums and cherries to start. There's an unusual beer note on this one, some toffee and then a lovely tropical fruit note. That orange marmalade note finished things off. This one comes across as very dry on the nose.	Bonfire on a beach to start, dirty smoke: tar, rubber, burning tyres. A little farmyard funk, dark chocolate and walnuts. There's some tropical fruit and orange zest in here somewhere but they're difficult to find. Some salinity and pipe tobacco finish things off.	Much more subdued and fruitier than the 12yo, it is even a Ledaig? Finding it hard to find the tar and rubber notes I usually associate with Ledaig, there's plenty of smoke but it isn't dirty. Red berries, plums and orange marmalade.
Palate	Thick sweet arrival, honey, salted caramel sauce and drying icing sugar. The fruit comes next: cherries, strawberries, orange zest, apples and dry apricots. There's a lovely dark chocolate note, old oak and a little hint of smoke. Dry peppery spice finishes things off.	As the nose suggested a thick chewy arrival: toffee pennies and honey. Then it turns all spicy: chilli, cinnamon and nutmeg. There's load of berry and cherry hints here - a very complex dram. There's orange marmalade and again a little hint of salinity and smoke as the liquid disappears.	Again a thick chewy arrival, sweet and dry. There's a load of fruit notes here: berries, cherries, pineapple and peaches. There's some chewing nuts, marzipan and a little salinity. There's an interesting spearmint note and a little peppery spice. The orange marmalade is here but it's Fortnum & Masons not Tesco!	Sweet creamy arrival: berries, cherries and toffee followed by a huge bite of chilli spice and a mouth full of smoke. It's very dirty, very fruity and very sweet. Reminds me a little of the Sinclair Rioja bottling. There's some salted caramel, lemon zest, grilled pineapple and a lovely berry jam note. A dry spice finishes things off.	Thick, sweet arrival, golden syrup, salted caramel sauce and dry icing sugar. The smoke has disappeared - very strange. Tropical fruit, berries, cherries and a lovely cinnamon spice. There's almonds, lemon zest and dried seaweed. I'd even suggest this was a peated Glen Scotia - very strange.
Finish	Medium length dry peppery spice, strawberries and orange marmalade.	Lingering dry peppery spice, liquorice and red berries.	Lingering dry peery spice, tropical fruit and red berries.	Lingering dry spice, citrus, berries and smoke.	Lingering salinity, dry smoke and berries.
Overall	The 20yo was a lovely dram, the 3year finish in sherry adds a layer of complexity without overpowering the dram, there are some dunnage funk notes but this isn't a sherry bomb. The 12yo Port again was a lovely dram, lots of distillery character and the berry notes from the port finish. There was a lot more spice than I'd have expected on this one. The 17yo Oloroso was probably my least favourite of the 5, I'm not sure if it was full maturation in Oloroso, if so a very inactive cask. Again more spicy than expected. The 12yo Marsala finish was very spicy - maybe overly so. Lovely Ledaig dirty peat and berry notes. The 9yo Bordeaux was the odd one out here - didn't feel like a Ledaig at all - lost all of the burnt rubber funk I'd associate with Ledaig. The salinity note on the drams was interesting, I'm sure most of the maturation is on the mainland, well away from the sea - the new make being tankered away from the distillery? The 3 Tobermory drams also had some smoke notes - unpeated or lightly peated? The 12yo Marsala had all of the tar and burnt rubber funk you'd expect but it was missing from the 9yo Bordeaux. A great set of dram to try - I'd probably rate the 20yo top.

Huge thanks to Paul @pswhisky for the samples!