Raasay | Whisky Lady

It was a surprisingly warm and sunny weekend for February. It was also a perfect opportunity for a few friends to get together and exchange a few drams. Some were already open. Others had been waiting for just this kind of evening.

We had 13 whiskies on offer and the hardest decision was where to start and where to stop? What did we have displayed to explore?

Raasay 46.4% – New kid on the Hebridean Island block…..
Ziegler’s Aureum 7-year Single Malt (2008 – 2015) Chateau Lafite Rothschild 47% – A flood of memories of a remarkable 2020 weekend spent at the distillery with the Sharing Angels
Ireland’s West Cork Calvados Cask Finish 43% – A complete contrast from the sociable dram anticipated
Chorlton’s Glentaucher’s 14-year refill sherry butt 61.1% – An elegant fruity compote, opened especially for the evening to contrast and compare with the 8 year
Chorlton’s Glentaucher’s 8-year first-fill sherry hogshead 61.2% – By far the star of the night
North Star’s Super Sonic Mach 3 Sherry Blended Malt – Perfectly paired with chocolate
Amrut’s Port Pipe Peated 48% – Quite nice to revisit, silky smooth balancing peat and port
Gordon & MacPhail’s Discovery Glenrothes 43% – Enjoyed by some
Paul John’s Christmas Edition 2021 46% – Held its own
Kamet 42.8% – Too unusual for my tasting companions to ignore…
Chorlton’s Staoisha 59.9% – Ashy peat, not for the fainthearted
Indri Trini 46% – Not sampled that evening
MacTalla Terra 46% – Also not sampled that evening
Ireland’s Currach Seaweed Cask 46% – Reserved for another time!

We chose to begin with the youngest and most recently opened distillery from the Hebridean Island distillery Raasay… Their aim is to produce a lightly peated whisky with rich flavourts. This was my first sample of the “real” Raasay as my earlier brush was a “pre” offering in their intended style “While we wait.”

We thought this would be a light dram to whet our appetite for more… what we discovered was a bit different!

Raasay Single Malt 46.4%

Nose – Fresh, young and vibrant, malty and maritime, slight smoke, more herbal than floral or fruity, after time a whiff of smoked meats
Palate – Surprisingly peaty – much more pronounced than anticipated, and yet not a “heavy” peat, the herbal quality follows through, with some bitter tannins, nuts, and quite autumnal
Finish – Cinnamon fading into a faintly bitter finish
Water – Initially didn’t think would be needed, but worth trying. For me, it became sweeter with a mineral or granite element
Revisit – Much later, I revisited the empty glass, the aromas were ashy, a bit like the remaining long-forgotten antique kitchen fireplace, from generations before

The thing about whiskies, slowing down to discern different aromas are the memories a smell triggers. For me, the hint of smoked meats took me back to Montreal. The palate overall was smooth and pleasant.

What more do we know? Their aim?

Our flagship Isle of Raasay Single Malt Whisky, 46.4% ABV, natural colour, non-chill filtered.

Lightly peated with rich dark fruit flavours.

We set out to emulate some older styles of Hebridean single malt whiskies, with subtle, fragrant smokiness balanced with dark fruit flavours.

It was matured in six different casks – this is what they have to say:

Two Isle of Raasay spirits – peated and unpeated – are matured separately in first fill Rye whiskey, fresh Chinkapin oak and first fill Bordeaux red wine casks. These six recipe casks marry together to create the perfect dram with real elegance, complexity and depth of character.

With this knowledge, we could see where the tannins came from, however elegant? Complex? And dark fruits? Not in what we found, however, it was an interesting start!

Next up? A revisit of a former friend – Aureum – which is unfortunately no more. What did we think?

Ziegler’s Aureum 7-year Single Malt (2008 – 2015) Chateau Lafite Rothschild 47%

Colour – Gold
Nose – Welcome! These are the kinds of aromas that explain why we were so captivated by Aureum. Sweet chestnuts, green and fresh, fruity… then deepens into chocolate, sweet vanilla custard then green apple, then a dessert feast of apple pie with vanilla ice cream!
Palate – First sip was a bit odd, then once calibrated to the unique style of Aureum with its use of chestnut wood, we found it to be smooth, sweet… getting sweeter with each sip!
Finish – Lingers with more sweet wood

Overall it was a clear reminder that this was once a distinctive distillery producing unique drams – aiming for craft and quality. I can only repeat that it is such a pity that Ziegler abandoned their decade-long foray into such single malts to go down the Freud route.

We then moved on to Ireland, to discover Ireland’s West Cork was nothing like the sociable dram we anticipated….

West Cork Calvados Cask Finish 43%

Colour – Light straw
Nose – No mistaking there is Calvados involved here! It reminded me of the kind of juice we used to make from our garden apples – pulp and seeds and all would go in. Then it shifted to something that could best be described as fresh-pressed coffee
Palate – We found it a bit “pushy” at first. Young, a bit brash, and curiously unfinished, dry and bitter with a hint of nuts of some kind
Finish – Limited, what there was we found bitter, like chewing an espresso bean
Water – We hoped it might bring out some other element – instead just kicked up the spice

Overall this didn’t attract new fans. Now I’ve had a few mighty fine whiskies with Calvados finish. Mackmyra Äppelblom 46.1% and Rampur’s Jugalbandi come to mind… The folks over at West Cork don’t try to over-sell this as a complex dram, instead, point imbibers in the direction of cocktails – a ginger mule to be more precise.

I then steered us towards a pair of Chorlton‘s – a contrast and comparison of two Glentauchers. Both sherry casks, both lovely just in different ways – both deserving their own posts – just check out Glentauchers 8 year and Glentauchers 14 year! We then cracked open some exceptional chocolates – what a fabulous pairing!

That is where our journeys diverged. For me, I thought to continue the chocolate pairing and thought to revisit the Super Sonic Sherry Blend and the Amrut Port Pipe Peated. Whereas others explored the Amrut, Indri, Kamet, and Staoisha. Overall it was simply a lovely evening and a nice way to keep at bay the dull dreary February blues!

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There are a dizzying array of new distilleries popping up all over the world. And yet setting up a new distillery – nay two – is no small feat.

The team at Raasay & Borders Distillers (R&B Distillers) recognize that “Building distilleries takes time though, so we are satisfying our impatience by working with a Highland distillery to very deliberately craft the styles of whisky representative of what’s to come.”

As part of our Monsoon Malts & More evening, we dove into two wee samples…

Borders Single Grain 51.7%

Here’s what we found:

Nose – While clearly a grain, it is soft not pushy, old flowers like chrysanthemums, slight sulfur, fruits and acetone, sweet the sour then sweet again
Palate – Sweet spices, lots of character, creamy, slightly astringent yet not unpleasant, hints of coffee
Finish – Staying power

Not in the least bit harsh and as we continued sipping, thought more and more of Koffee Toffee… and pronounced it as “rather a good grain!”

What do we know about it? It is distilled in the highlands, non-chill filtered and natural colour.

Here’s what they have to say:

Aroma: Prominent sherry notes on the nose, hints of sugar-coated nuts.
Taste: Surprisingly dry on the palate with the sherry influences dominating. Walnuts balanced with vanilla, herbaceous and floral notes coming through towards the end, and just a touch of warm spice.
Finish: Lingering, dry and complex.
Food Pairing: Pairs well with Cocoa Black dark praline chocolates.

What more do we know about it? It has 50% wheat & 50% malted barley, finished in Oloroso Sherry casks. In their words:

Our Borders highland single grain whisky is a testament to our 19th century heritage and a nod to our future. Our Co-founder Alasdair Day’s great-grandfather blended whisky in the Coldstream – marked by the golden dot on this bottle.

The River Tweed is iconic to this uncommon provenance. It is integral in our R&B story and in forming part of the border between Scotland and England. The soft rolling landscape that surrounds it is reflected in character through the light, sweet notes of this lowland-style whisky.

We then shifted gears to their second offering – Raasay.

Raasay “While We Wait” 46%

Here’s what we found:

Nose – Iodine, light leather, oils
Palate – Sharp and initially an off quality, a bit rancid, olive oil, sour, peat, chewy and bitter then sweet
Finish – Sweet

You would think from the notes this would be a rather unpleasant whisky. But here is the thing, as we sipped it began to grow on us more and more.

For two of us, it reminded us of a Ledaig from Tobermoray, particularly when we added a few drops of water.

Here’s what they have to say:

Nose: Chocolate, pear, raisin. Blackcurrant, chocolate cake, slight kirsch brandy note, red wine note.
Palate: Cherry at the front palate, smoke, more chocolate notes, orangey notes, slight burnt oak note. Vanilla and oaky notes. Dash of orange and raspberry.
Finish: Slightly floral. More oak. Cookies.

What more do we know about it? In their words:

While waiting for the Isle of Raasay Distillery to rise beneath Dùn Caan, we’ve crafted a single malt demonstrating our whisky making skills to offer a tantalising taster of what’s to come.

We achieved this by blending two expressions from one distillery; one peated, one unpeated. The whisky then finished in French oak Tuscan wine casks from three vineyards that produce Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Naturally, one turns to speculate, which Highland distillery produces both grain and malt whisky? Could it be Loch Lamond…?

Other whiskies sampled in our Mumbai monsoon malts evening included:

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