Raasay Na Sia Single Cask Series 4 Years Old 2018

A distillery release of Isle of Raasay from the Na Sia Single Cask Series, aged 4 year old, distilled in 2018, from cask 18/670 and bottled at 61.6%. The outturn was 273 bottles. The Isle of Raasay Distillery opened in 2017, the first legal still on an island with a long history of illicit distilling. Every drop is distilled, matured and bottled on the island, using water from a Celtic Iron Age well.

It was drawn off a lantern wash still and a straight necked spirit still, following a long ferment that lends the new make a blackberry lift. Maturation in a Bordeaux cask brought dark berry fruit and a soft tannin. Only a few years old, it is fresh and lively, the active wood already deep. The cool, damp island air gives a gentle maturation close to the sea. Peated and unpeated spirit are matured apart, then married for the flagship malt. The island had a long history of illicit distilling before the first legal still arrived.

Bottled at a cask strength 61.6%, it is intense. The wine cask adds blackberry, plum and a red berry lift over a gentle wisp of peat. The texture is bright and juicy, the fruit lifted by the cask. The finish runs sweet, spiced and lively. This is the first legal single malt of the Isle of Raasay.