Summerton Whisky Club’s October 2024 Club Bottle – Isle of Raasay Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky

The Isle of Raasay is a small, rugged island located just a 25 minute ferry ride from the Isle of Skye in the North West of Scotland. Just 14 miles long and 3 miles wide, the Isle of Raasay is the same size as Manhattan, New York but with a population of 161 people and counting.

Home to outstanding natural beauty, the Isle of Raasay offers an abundance of wildlife both in the water and on the land, as well as rare temperate rainforests and an incredibly rich geological variety. There is one community-owned shop which also acts as the post office, one primary school and Raasay House hotel just next door to the distillery.

Co-founders Bill Dobbie and Alasdair Day first met in 2013 and formed R&B Distillers with the common goal of building Scotland’s leading artisanal distiller. Focusing on local production, provenance, quality and doing things differently. By 2015 they had identified the Isle of Raasay as providing the ingredients for their perfect dram, and planning permission to begin work revitalising the Isle of Raasay’s nineteenth century Borodale House into a state-of-the-art distillery, visitor centre and luxury accommodation was granted in 2016

In 2017, their copper stills were switched on for the first time to produce the first ever spirit on the Isle of Raasay and in 2020 the Inaugural Release was launched with a unique and tactile bottle design, laden with imprints of real fossils found on Raasay.

Part of the distillery’s ethos is to produce, mature, bottle and market every drop of spirit directly from the island. This seeks to maximise the influence of the island on the spirit, and the distillery on the island.

Having been discussing featuring Raasay as a Club Bottle for a while, I received a sample last year of their cask strength whisky and knew it was something I wanted to share with Members as we got into the colder months. Their choice of casks adds fruity notes to the lightly peated spirit that reminds me of barbecues, making it a fantastic Autumnal dram.