Review #189 - Isle of Raasay Na Sia Single Cask - Peated Ex-Rye Cask
Isle of Raasay - this relatively new distillery began operations in late 2017, so they've just made their way past 6 years of distilling at the time of writing. The distillery is located on Raasay, and island nestled between Skye and the western coast of the Scottish highlands; the location boasts some amazing scenery, one of the reasons this distillery is receiving an increasing number of visitors.
Alasdair Day coordinates distilling operations, and his team has set out to produce a lightly peated, rugged island whisky with balance and flavors of dark fruits. So far, this has been accomplished by blending together peated and unpeated distillate, as well as a wide variety of cask types, such as rye, many types of wine casks, virgin oak, and more. Some bottlings, though, like this Na Sia series, allow single casks in one flavor profile to showcase individual styles.
This bottling we're diving into is made from peated distillate, and it was aged in an ex-rye whisky cask (one of the cask types used in their flagship single malt). There's no age statement on the bottle, but this is probably 3 to 4 year old whisky; we get a powerful cask strength of 62.4% ABV, and this is a craft-presented whisky, so there's no added coloring and no chill filtration.
Isle of Raasay Na Sia Single Cask - Peated Ex-Rye Cask
Scotland/Highlands - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 114 (2023)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 62.4% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-rye cask
Details: Cask 18/627; not chill filtered, no color added; 2018 vintage
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 5 months; bottles at 90%, 80%, and 70% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Raw, powerful, and a little bit spirity - you can feel the youth of the whisky, though it isn't unpleasant. There are buttery oak notes, some shortbread and sweet key lime; sharpness then comes from lemon, pepper, and fizzy soda. The peat has a medium strength, and with time, more funky notes come in: damp hay, salt, and pungent herbal scents.
Palate: A thick mouthfeel - an assault on the senses. This is very punchy, with strong peat, strong herbal notes, a syrupy texture, and some sharp, peppery spice. There's some lemon, but we quickly get lots of baking notes: buttered toast, custard, anise, and oats. The herbal side is complex: eucalyptus, lavender, and grass all show up.
Finish: Very long finish with lots of peat, herbs, and wood notes - rosemary, lavender, and clove are all plentiful, and there's dry wood, semi-sweet lemon, and some vanilla. Generally quite dry at this point.
Final Note: Honestly, this could be a decent alternative to a '.1' Octomore, in our opinion, for half the price or less - it doesn't quite deliver the same complexity, but those raw, powerful, peaty, spirity notes keep the nose and mouth engrossed for a while. Quite herbal and somewhat dry, but this one was a lot of fun to dig into. Not a cheap whisky, and definitely a young whisky, but a pretty unique experience.
Our Average Rating: 7.4 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.12
