Raasay Lightly Peated R-02.1

An Isle of Raasay distillery bottling and bottled at 46.4%. Built by R&B Distillers, Raasay was the first legal distillery on the Isle of Raasay when it opened in 2017. The distillery is vertically integrated, doing everything on the island from mash to bottle.

The spirit was made in the distillery's pot stills, fed by the Celtic well, after a long fermentation of up to five days that builds a sweet blackberry fruit. A wine cask shaped it, dark fruit threading through the spirit. Without an age statement, it is fresh, vibrant and cask forward. A short but intense maturation suits the fruit forward Raasay character. The distillery opened in 2017 and poured its first single malt in 2020. Raasay is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, just east of Skye. The six cask recipe of rye, Chinquapin oak and Bordeaux wine is unique in Scotch. Peated and unpeated spirit are matured apart, then married for the flagship malt.

Reduced to 46.4%, it is mellow. The wine cask adds blackberry, plum and a red berry lift. It is lively and deep, the cask and fruit well matched. A warming, fruit forward finish lingers. This is a characterful young malt made wholly on its island.