Raasay Peated Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask (Skotchtoberfest #13)

I liked the unpeated one (at least enough where I’d like to try it when it’s older), plus someone commented about this one on that post, so I’m really looking forward to the peated variety. Here we go.

Raasay Peated Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from peated malt and matured for 29 months in a virgin chinkapin oak cask. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Smoky, leathery, red fruit.

Taste: Smoke, spice.

Finish: Musty, earthy. Smoke and charred wood.

This is very close to a good whisky in its own right. I really quite liked it, and it’s a lot of what I like from the unpeated variety but with elements that peat gives. The heat didn’t have as much of a negative impact this time around, but there also wasn’t an interesting note hiding behind the ethaol that I couldn’t tease out. Still, it holds its own and gives notes of a nature similar to what I find often in Octomore, Port Charlotte, and Ledaig.

Score: 80