Raasay Unpeated Bordeaux Red Wine Cask (Skotchtoberfest #14)

I’ve historically liked expressions that saw some time in wine casks, so these last two, particularly the peated one due up tomorrow, are ones I’ve been particularly looking forward to. Let’s go.

Raasay Unpeated Ex-Bordeaux Red Wine Cask, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from unpeated barley and matured for 3 years in an ex-Bordeaux red wine cask. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Malty, musty, winey.

Taste: Winey malt, like it was soaked or marinated in red wine or something. Earthy spices (not each of those notes separately; spices which are earthy).

Finish: Light sweetness, hot/peppery. Medium.

I don’t dislike this, but nothing really calls to me. There’s nothing obviously struggling to get through the ABV, but it does feel like the ABV is running the show, and I wonder how a more aged or diluted version would taste. I’m still anticipating the peated version, by my enthusiasm is a bit tampered.

Score: 72

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

Raasay Unpeated Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask (Skotchtoberfest #12)

As far as I know, this is the first exposure to chinkapin oak (as least where they specify it), and one of few if not the only of a Scotch aged only in virgin wood. I’m interested in how this, and the peated one tomorrow, go.

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

Minutia: Distilled from unpeated malt and matured for 27 months in a virgin chinkapin oak cask Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Dark and red fruits. Sweet overall.

Taste: Malty, spicy. Quite hot, really. It’s unfortunate as it hides something interesting that the heat renders too fleeting for me to get a read on it.

Finish: Bubblegum. Woody and tannic. Medium-short.

Interesting, and overall a positive first exposure to this wood. It’s not as together as it could be (expected given the nature of what it is, of course), but I can say I’d love a proper bottling of this style of spirit. Particularly aged long enough to mute that ethanol without taking away what I was trying to find on the palate. I think it’s also the first time I’ve gotten an obvious and strong bubblegum note in a whisky.

Score: 75

Musical Evocation: Rob Zombie – “Sick Bubblegum”

Raasay Peated Rye Cask (Skotchtoberfest #11)

Yesterday’s unpeated version was fine but young. Let’s see what difference the peat makes.

Raasay Peated Rye Cask, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from peated malt and matured for 29 months in an ex-Woodford Reserve rye cask. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Jonquil, ripe corn; 0.4.

Nose: Very earthy smoke. Tar, iodine. Bold leather and tobacco. Better than it has any right to be.

Taste: Smoke, doughy malt.

Finish: Smoke, ash, spice, wood.

After the nose it drops off a bit. The palate is still fine, but the nose is actually incredible. It’s good for its age, but I’d love any whisky with a nose like this. It carried its score from a promising new make score to one of an ok whisky. The palate is a bit youthful, though. This experiment just got interesting.

Score: 80

Musical Evocation: Judas Priest – “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”

Raasay Unpeated Rye Cask (Skotchtoberfest #10)

Finally the beginning of some reviews I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I ordered a pack of the six different types of casks Raasay uses (three cask types, each with peated and unpeated malt) and the next six days will be each of those, followed by the first two batches. Here we go.

Raasay Unpeated Rye Cask, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from unpeated malt and matured for 27 months in an ex-Woodford Reserve rye cask. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Jonquil, ripe corn; 0.4.

Nose: Dough, toast. Salt/minerality.

Taste: Dough, spicy.

Finish: Cayenne pepper. Chocolate. Short.

Hmm. It’s got a note I get in Kilkerran, specifically the heavily peated expressions, in the form of a dough. But it’s not quite the fried dough I get from Kilkerran. I suppose that means it’s some new makey stuff coming through, but in the Kilkerran’s it does it in a way pleasing to me. This isn’t offensive, but I’m pretty neutral about it. As a stand alone drink, of course; I wouldn’t be interested in a Na Sia bottle of this, at least this early in Raasay’s life. My take is that this is in the blend to add some spice and a chocolatey-malty note in the finish. While the overall finish is short, that lingers, and surprisingly it’s something I associate with some very well aged unpeated drams, so it’s cool to see it in here and if I weren’t already I’d be interested to see what comes through at various ages as Raasay gets older stock as time goes one..

Score: 70