Raasay’s 1st Single Cask Scotch Bottling Debuts, Featuring Tennessee Whiskey Barrels

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London-based Berry Bros & Rudd has released the first single cask bottling from Scotland’s Isle of Raasay Distillery. A 2017 whisky, this release is Raasay’s oldest to date. Founded in 2017, Raasay is a young distillery.

This bottling comes from Raasay’s peated distillate, which spent three years in a first-fill ex-Bourbon barrel. The batch then was split for six months into two quarter casks, ex-oloroso and Pedro Ximénez (PX) Sherry, before being combined back together.

“We are delighted with this first-ever independent bottling of our Isle of Raasay single malt. A single cask bottling from the 23rd cask filled at the Isle of Raasay resulting in the oldest whisky bottled to date from the distillery,” said Alasdair Day, co-founder and master distiller at Isle of Raasay, according to The Spirit Business. “This is a bold, balanced, complex single malt combining ex-Tennessee whiskey barrel maturation with oloroso and PX Sherry finishing.”

The 2017 Raasay single cask #23, bottled at 56.1% ABV, will be available to purchase from Berry Bros & Rudd, Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange, priced at £120 ($156). Only 240 bottles were produced.

“The last few years has seen a small but meaningful movement by a few Scottish startup distilleries to create interesting and characterful distillate; not jumping on the bandwagon of Scotch whisky’s current global success but pursuing true innovation with local barley varieties or unusual yeast strains,” said Jonny McMillan, assistant reserve spirits manager at Berry Bros & Rudd. “Isle of Raasay is one of these distilleries which is going above and beyond to create a whisky with its own unique identity.”

Raasay released its inaugural whisky, which also featured a Tennessee barrel finish, in November 2020.

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