We sell gift vouchers - for more details call us on 0115 911 0555 or email us at eann@gauntleys.com
We sell gift vouchers - for more details call us on 0115 911 0555 or email us at eann@gauntleys.com
Region: Highlands (Raasay)
Owner: R&B Distillers
Founded: 2014
Things could have been a lot different had R&B Distillers co-founder Alasdair Day followed his initial plan to build a distillery in the Scottish Borders, near to where his great grandfather blended whisky in a grocer’s shop. The idea of building a distillery along with his business partner, the Scottish entrepreneur, Bill Dobbie, was driven by the same needs as his great grandfathers, that being the need to secure spirit for a blend, that being the Tweeddale blend.
I have no idea what led them both to the Hebridean island of Raasay, maybe it was down to the fact that there had never been a legal distillery on the island. There is definitely archaeological evidence of a still in a collapsed rock shelter that points to Illicit distillation taking place on the island as recently as 1850 according to local resident and historian, Rebecca Mackay.
Anyway, whatever the reason, in 2015 the company purchased Borodale House, a Victorian building most recently used as a hotel and have created a distillery, visitor center and luxury overnight accommodation in the building. The first test mashing and distillation runs were conducted in September 2017, with the first casks being filled in October 2017.
A relatively long 90-hour fermentation and plenty of copper contact, including a cooling jacket on the wash still lyne arm and an inclined lyne arm on the spirit still, have led to a clean, fruity, but not estery spirit. They are producing both unpeated and peated spirit with a phenolic content of 48-52PPM. Both spirit types are then aged in ex-Woodfords Reserve Rye Casks, ex-Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask and ex-Bordeaux Red Wine Cask. The ‘Core’ release is a vatting of all of those casks and a 50/50 split of peated and unpeated spirit.
Single cask releases of the component parts have been released, but it is the ‘Core’ release, which is the real star, being the sum of all of its parts and definitely worth checking out.
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