“Na Sia” Raasay’s Six Cask Blend
Over the past few months, I have enjoyed and dissected Isle of Raasay’s signature release: a blend of six different cask maturations of lightly peated malt. If you’re unfamiliar with this young distillery’s story, I highly recommend exploring their website. Learn more about the spirit they’re making, the island’s unique geography and water source, and most importantly their people.
My first experience with Raasay was years ago now. I initially reached out to ImpEx, Raasay’s US Importer, for clarification on a separate release. After chatting for a few days, they suggested I give Raasay another go and see how their whisky has matured since my last review. I was eager to try Raasay again. If you ever need more info on a release or help finding one of their bottles in your area, reach out to the folks at ImpEx and they’ll take care of you. Many thanks to Jeannette and Sam for their generosity in providing a bottle for review.
This bottle was provided free of charge without expectation or input over the content of my review. All tasting notes and opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post. You can read my full statement of Ethics & Transparency at this link.
Distillery: Isle of Raasay Distillery.
Region: Isle of Raasay, Kyle, Scotland, UK.
ABV: 46.4%.
Age: NAS.
Cask type: Blend of lightly peated and unpeated spirit matured in Rye, Chinkapin, and Bordeaux casks.
Price: $70.
Color: 1.1 Burnished. Natural Color. No chill filtration.
Tasting Notes
Tasted neat in a Glencairn with 15+ minutes of rest. Dilution was added for the second half of the tasting with an additional rest of upwards of an hour. This review encompasses my initial impression to the final glass.
Nose: A lovely start to a dram with floral and baking spice-forward aromas. Lilac, gardenias, and bee pollen. Heather honey, with that herbal leaning tinge to it. A mixed bag of fruit notes, both fresh and dried varieties. There’s a pleasant honeydew melon, grilled white peach, and stonefruit aromas with accompanying sultana and dried apricot notes. Tree sap, camphor, cocoa powder, and an ashy smothered campfire make up the peated elements. They also bring a medicinal cherry note that took a bit of water to coax out. Lastly, there is a touch of saline to the dram, but not a heavy brine note like other island distilleries.
Palate: The smoky peat comes through as a roaring bonfire on the palate. Even if it’s a light peat, it’s a welcome complexity. Smoky green wood fire, smoldering charcoal embers, and singed conifer needles. Lovely summer sun tea flavors with more of those peach and nectarine notes. White pepper, juniper berries, and simmering chili flakes infused in oil. Probably attributed to the rye casks used, the cereals come through as herbal, whole grain rye toast to me.
Finish: Peat fills your olfactory senses in waves after each subsequent sip. Pine and camphor notes galore! A drying finish that is not overly tannic. It’s more of a cigar or tobacco smoke and ash dryness. Medicinal leaning peat with unusual quinine and wormwood flavors. Odd, but enjoyable. Smoked and grilled citrus with an unexpected sweet orange marmalade note. Residual salts evoke campfire-grilled white fish over a bed of lemons.
Overall
As Raasay ages up over 6 years now, they will shed that youthful, green element much like Ardnamurchan did. I ended up comparing the Raasay to an older AD/ batch. I also grabbed a few similarly priced staples like Classic Laddie to compare against. It’s an unfair comparison to Bruichladdich on stats alone, however, I wanted to test how Raasay would rank blind for my palate.
After a long couple of months with this bottle, I think my conclusions remain similar to the initial R-01 release. A solid foundation, needing further maturation. I like the direction Raasay is headed. It has a unique character to it that is reminiscent of so many familiar distilleries. It’s a hybrid of Ledaig, Caol Ila, and Laphroaig with a splash of Highland Park. A funky, herbal, and medicinal blend that is the perfect late-summer whisky.
Final Score: 83
