Isle of Raasay Unpeated Ex-Bordeaux Single Cask Single Malt Scotch

Cask 18/281. The nose opens with fresh grain, dried apricot, sultana raisins, dried cherry, ginger, peppercorns, and funnel cake. The palate holds its proof well with flavors of stone fruits, sweet cherries, pepper, and just there fried dough to finish. D&M Tasting Notes

In the late 2000s, Alasdair Day was bottling whiskies from a recipe he found in his great grandfather’s cellar book, using the name The Tweeddale. As we know, at the time it was getting more challenging to purchase aged stock, so like many others he turned to the idea of starting a distillery. In 2013, he met Bill Dobbie and together they formed a company R&B Distillers. Alasdair had been captivated by the idea of producing whisky in the opposite ends of Scotland and to explore the differences of taste depending on the location. Their initial plan was to open a distillery on the Borders, but that plan changed when on a tip from a friend they made their way to Raasay. They came to this remote part of Scotland because the former hotel Borodale House on Raasay was for sale. Enamored with the site and its potential, they pivoted away from starting a distillery on the Borders and went all in on Raasay. They thus embarked on a three year process to update the historic structure and add on the facilities that they would need for distilling. In September 2017 they filled their first cask and ramped up to full production of one mash (one British tonne a day), five days a week by month’s end.

It is in cask choice that Raasay is doing things quite a bit different versus most operations. For each of their peated and unpeated outlays, they aged the resulting spirit in Ex-Bordeaux Red Wine Cask, Ex-Rye Whiskey Cask, and Virgin Chinkapin Oak Casks. Thus they have six expressions to craft their core bottling with, along with limited releases of each cask type. While we enjoyed last year’s peated single casks, we were quite excited with this year’s unpeated ex-Bordeaux barrel. It was the 281st barrel produced at the distillery in 2018 and spent more than four years in the wine cask before being bottled at cask strength in December 2022 at 61.7% ABV. There was a single cask imported to the United States and we are so very happy to bring it to you. Michael Kennel, D&M