ISLE OF RAASAY DISTILLERY REVEALS NEW LIMITED-EDITION WHISKY, FULLY MATURED IN EX-MANZANILLA CASKS
11th May 2023, London: The Isle of Raasay Distillery has unveiled a new limited-edition expression in celebration of winning the coveted Tourism Destination of the Year Award at the Scottish Whisky Awards 2022.
The new ‘Distillery Exclusive – Tourism Destination of the Year’ is inspired by the rugged yet beautiful windswept Isle of Raasay, with the team choosing a unique blend of sherry and ex-Manzanilla Pasada casks to achieve a salty maritime note within the whisky that encapsulates the island’s climate. Overall, this maturation process delivers a whisky which is lightly peated with notes of chamomile, almonds and salted caramel and has an ABV of 63.5%.
Co-founder and Master Distiller, Alasdair Day said: “The Isle of Raasay is a very small rugged, windswept Hebridean island that lies off the East coast of Skye. An island off an island. With all of our spirit being matured on Raasay in our warehouses there has been a lot of discussion about our maritime climate and how this may influence the flavour characteristics of our maturing whisky. It was with this thought in mind, combined with the tradition of maturing Scotch Whisky in sherry casks that we selected a small quantity of ex Manzanilla Pasada casks for our Isle of Raasay Single Malt to mature in.
“Manzanilla is a very dry sherry, similar to Fino, made in the same way but at the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda next to the sea and not inland in Jerez. This results in a salty maritime note in Manzanilla which is not present in Fino sherry. It is this note that we were looking to promote in this very special release of our Isle of Raasay Hebridean Single Malt. It combines our maturation by the sea with the maritime influence of the Manzanilla sherry.”
Only 2,500 bottles of ‘Distillery Exclusive – Tourism Destination of the Year’ will be released which will be exclusively available to their online whisky club and at the Isle of Raasay Distillery from 17th May 2023 with a retail price of £95.
