Raasay Na Sia Single Cask Series 5 Years Old 2019 (61.4%)

This official Isle of Raasay single malt from the Na Sia Single Cask Series, a 5 year old island malt, distilled in 2019, from cask 19/167 and bottled at 61.4%. Raasay is a modern island distillery, the first legal one on this small Hebridean isle off the coast of Skye. Long fermentations of up to five days build a sweet blackberry note before the spirit meets the cask.

Distilled on water from the island well in Italian built copper stills, the make carried a blackberry fruit from its long fermentation. Maturation came in American oak, with a generous vanilla and spice. At five years the cask has settled into the fruit, the spirit rounding out. Quarter casks and first fill wood drive a fast, generous extraction at this young age. 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.

At cask strength 61.4% it is muscular. The cask lends vanilla, baking spice and a honeyed sweetness with a clean coastal lift behind. A bramble fruit and a warm spice run through. The close is warm, fruit over soft oak. This is the new wave of Hebridean whisky in a glass.