Berry Bros & Rudd 2017 Raasay Cask No. 23 4 Year Old 56.1% 70cl

• 1 of 240 bottles

This first ever independent bottling is purely from the peated distillate. After 3 years in a first fill ex-bourbon barrel it was split into two quarter casks, ex-Oloroso and PX, for 6 months then vatted back together. It opens with sweet flavours of mature Sauternes, apricot jam, mace and rich fruit. The distillate shows itself with peat smoke, soot and bonfire ash. Sweet sherry influenced notes and coastal peat smoke bring waves of spice, orange syrup and dried fruit. Complex layers of dark chocolate, smoked pancetta, prunes, spent fireworks and cedar notes appear. A long finish offers lingering peat smoke and delicate halting spice.

Raasay is a ruggedly beautiful island just off the East coast of Skye. The eponymous distillery was founded in 2014 by Bill Dobbie and Alasdair Day. It produces both peated and unpeated distillate, which is matured separately then normally vatted together for bottling.