ABV |
46.4% |
LOCATION |
Isle of Raasay, Scotland |
TYPE |
Single Malt Scotch Whisky |
MADE BY |
Alasdair Day, Co-Founder & Master Distiller |
COCKTAIL IDEAS |
Sazerac |
FLAVOUR CAMPS |
Fruity |
Notes of |
  
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ABOUT ME |
The Isle of Raasay distillery was a long-held dream for co-founder Alasdair Day, whose connections to whisky stretch back to his grandfather’s work as a Scotch whisky blender in the late 1800s.
Although his sights for a new distillery were set on the Scottish Borders near to his grandfather’s place of work, it was a recommendation from a friend that steered him towards the island of Raasay.
Situated between the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Skye, the picturesque Isle of Raasay or ‘isle of the roe deer’ is a relatively small Hebridean island with a population of just 161. It has also never been home to a legal whisky distillery, until now.
In 2015, Day purchased the Victorian Borodale House and began work converting it into a distillery and visitors’ centre, its stills peering out across the bay to Skye.
By 2017 the first spirit began to flow, a fruity, sweet and lightly peated single malt inspired by the revered style of whisky made at Islay’s Bowmore during the 1960s and ‘70s.
The distillery’s flagship whisky, Isle of Raasay Single Malt, was first released in 2020 after maturation in first-fill Tennessee whiskey casks and a finish in first-fill Bordeaux red wine casks. However, the recipe has since evolved somewhat to accentuate Raasay’s fruit-forward flavour.
The distillery produces both peated and unpeated spirits which are matured separately in first-fill rye, virgin chinquapin and first-fill Bordeaux red wine casks. The six casks are then blended together to create a rich and complex single malt whisky with notes of dark red fruits, soft brown sugar and bonfire smoke with a herbal, menthol lift.
The whisky is as much a marvel as the bottle encasing it. The unique decanter shape has been moulded to reflect Raasay's jagged topography as well as fossils found on the island.
Delicious on its own, this is a Scotch whisky that shines in a classic Sazerac or a refreshing Blackcurrant and Mint Smash.
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