After visiting the northernmost (currently) Highland distillery, it is time to focus on another new distillery in a remote location, the Isle of Raasay Distillery. As of yesterday, they are the holders of the 2024 OSWA award for best new distillery. Founded in 2017, the distillery is located off the coast of Skye, the Isle of Raasay has a tiny population of 161 inhabitants, as the whisky label states. (I wonder if the label will change if the inhabitant count changes… that’s the stuff I wonder about when I am about to fall asleep).
Besides being notable for bringing employment to a remote area of Scotland at risk of population decline, the Isle of Raasay distillery is unique for the casks used to age its whisky, but more on that below. Today, I review the Isle of Raasay R-02.1, the 2023 Autumn release of the standard Single Malt produced by the distillery.
TL:DR: Unique and full of character, with very well-judged cask influence. Very promising but maybe not one for the ex-Bourbon cask purists or those who cannot stand rye whisky herbaceous aromas.
Score: 6.5, Good stuff and showing promise of a very good whisky once that youth is toned down a touch.
Rassay’s unique cask mix
One of the first things I, like everyone else, learned when dipping my toes into Scottish Single Malt whisky is that the spirit is usually aged in ex-Bourbon or maybe ex-Sherry (Oloroso usually) casks. Well, the Isle of Rassay certainly does things differently. There are no Bourbon or Sherry casks in sight for the regular Hibredian Single Malt release. Rather, there is a mix of ex-Rye whisky (apparently from Woodford), Bordeaux Red wine casks, and Chinkapin (or Chinquapin) Oak casks, a North American native oak species supposed to provide spicy and toffee-like aromas and flavours.
Raasay’s makes their standard Single Malt with both peated and unpeated spirits. The two distillates are aged in the same mix of casks I described above. Raasay has been bringing a Spring and an Autumn release to the market, labelled respectively R-01 and R-02. The Raasay whisky in my review, the R-02.1, is the second batch of the Autumn release.
I would be curious to understand the reason for the choice besides flavour. This might be the motivation I need to visit Raasay for a distillery tour. Yeah, I know… any excuse is good. Besides the regular core release, Raasay has quite a few different releases.
The multitudinous special releases
I had a bit of a go at Wolfburn for the multitude of releases and how I fear that might be reducing focus on the core range. At face value, Raasay is not much better, with its multiple yearly releases. But what Raasay does better, and I realise this is a very personal judgement, is to provide a reason behind their various releases. And it comes down a lot to how telling the story of a distillery in its formative years.
The Na Sia series provides a chance to access the individual components of the standard release across time. This is a series that will have a limited run. Each of the six individual casks, ex-Rye, ex-Red Wine and Chinkapin, in both peated and unpeated versions, which make up the standard Raasay single malt will be available as individual bottlings at 5, 7, 9 and 11 years. The 5-year-old versions were released this year (2024).
Besides the Na Sia series, there are three special releases. The Dùn Cana, matured in Sherry quarter casks. An oak special maturation series, which started with a virgin Colombian Oak release and finally the Sláinte club exclusive, for members of Raasays members club (free to join at the time of writing).
One extra reason I appreciate Rassay is their transparency. The distillery shares a lot of info on how their whisky is produced on each of their product pages. Kudos for making us whisky geeks happy.
And now off to the review of the Raasay single malt R-02.1.
Isle of Raasay R-02.1
Specs
Price paid: €59.79
Lot: R02.1
ABV: 46.4%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: First fill ex-Rye Whiskey (63%), virgin Chinkapin oak (26%), and first fill Bordeaux red wine (11%). Raasay discloses a lot of information on their bottlings, the ones for the standard release are available here
Tasting Notes
Colour: Deep gold
Nose: The rye cask influence is immediately noticeable on the nose, together with some peat. The opening is all mint, dill, maple syrup, toasted bread, ashy and medicinal peat. Once my nose gets used to the rye and peat notes, there is nose complexity emerging. Some rich vanilla, red berries, aniseed, a bouquet of spices (chilli, cumin and more), hay, watermelon flavoured Jolly Rancher (WTF, but yes indeed), wet hay and a touch of dark chocolate. It is certainly unique and complex.
Taste and finish: Quite intense and velvety, bready then peated. There is a touch of newmake character, but not excessively so. As I sip my dram, I detect liquorice, vanilla, caramel, grapes, herbal notes (a touch of rye dill again) and spice (more paprika and pepper).
The medium finish goes back to those more rye-lead herbaceous and medicinal peat notes and a lingering berry taste. A bit less complex or developed on the palate than on the nose, but promising and intriguing nonetheless.
Score*: 6.5, Good stuff and showing promise of a very good whisky once that youth is toned down a touch.
Sometimes, you review a whisky and have a certain expectation in mind because of the history of the distillery, the reputation or the cask influence. When I started writing this review of the Raasay R-02.1 I was probably in my most blank state. I knew almost nothing about the distillery and, even after doing some research, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found is a whisky that, while slightly young, shows an intriguingly unique and well-executed cask maturation regime. While my preference for the best new distillery may be elsewhere (Lagg and Glasgow by a hair), I am curious to try more of the Isle of Raasay’s output.
This all comes with a caveat. If you are someone who prefers to savour the character of the spirit and is not a huge fan of cask finishes or strong cask influences, this might not be in your wheelhouse. Likewise, if the idea of drinking rye whisky makes you turn your nose, the aromas on the Raasay single malt might trigger some of that dislike, that rye cask is noticeable… you have been warned.
* Score are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
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