I’m old enough to remember Rassay distillery opening in 2017 and I have tried quite a few of the “While we Wait” bottles in the intervening period as well. I have always enjoyed them and even Mrs Malted who, now we are getting married, has admitted she doesn’t even like whisky… likes those bottles.

Screw all your industry awards that there is the top trophy in the cabinet surely.

The Distillery

The distillery is located on the Isle of Rassay in what was a disused hotel. The distillery still contains a hotel as part of their offering. This is quite important given the small size of the island but there is a visitor centre for day trippers as well. Not to mention the odd celebrity visit while filming a reality tv show.

The distillery is owned by R&B distillers which is owned by Alistair Day and Bill Dobbie. Together they are also involved in a number of different spirit based businesses. I first came to know of them through the “Craft Whisky Club” business which seems to now be “CaskShare” which I must confess I don’t really understand as a business. I think it is trying to get you to buy a bottle of a single cask before its ready to be bottled. Pre selling for the independent bottling market. They also sell single casks ready to go like a 21 year old Port Charlotte which I must confess to wanting to try but the price of £500 is enough to bring me back to my senses.

The Whisky

This sample I have is from Whisky-Me (again) and is batch 2. I also have batch 1 in the cupboard unopened but for batch two this is whisky not quite 4 years old from Laureate barley and from a collection of cask types. 65% Rye casks, 25% virgin oak and 10% red wine. Small drops of red wine and virgin are pretty common on initial recipes for new distilleries but the Rye whisky casks is a new one for me. Bottled at 46.4% the going rate when you could pick up a bottle was around £50 but auctions is perhaps the only place you can pick it up but a new batch will no doubt be on the horizon soon.

Raasay produce peated and unpeated whiskies and it’s not clear if this is a complete peated whisky release or a mixture of the two to produce a lighter peat style in such a young whisky.

Tasting Notes

Colour – just a touch orange

Nose – immediately the subtle peat smoke is noticeable, acidic sharp grapefruit and richer grape. It’s not all acidic though with a balancing sugar hit of sugar covered “fizzy” sweets

Palate – looking past the peat there is clean barley sugar and herbal notes with those herbal notes coupling tightly to the smoke to make an interesting complex combination which is almost like a smoky nettle soup.

Finish – the youth is most obvious here, without water it’s pretty sharp and spicy. It’s not hot or rough but certainly assertive

Final Thoughts

An interesting an engaging whisky. Red wine and peat is a rare combination mostly because it rarely works. Two very dominant notes tend to fight rather than collaborate making for a jarring experience but with the additional of peppery herbal notes from the Rye casks it does work for me.

The bottle’s glass three dimensional effect is also pretty cool.