Raasay While We Wait

Butterscotch and fruitcake on the nose, palate a little peaty but otherwise delicate and smooth.

Deliciously sweet, honeyed almonds, a bit strong at first but mellowed on subsequent mouthfuls. Nice smell of warm vanilla or honey. Good peaty tobacco element.

Sample from their Virtual Whisky Tasting on 11th June 2020. The tasting introduced the 6 spirit styles they intend to use for their first release from the distillery due in 2021. The 6 styles are peated and unpeated versions using three distinct cask types - Rye whiskey, Chinkapin oak, and Bordeaux red wine. The While We Wait has been produced in an unnamed Highland distillery “in the West Highlands near a very big loch”, but is designed to be the flavour profile of the whisky they will be producing from their own distillery. Upfront, the whisky does taste young, but it has a very smooth, creamy (almost buttery) character. There are light, smooth smoke and dark fruit notes, which mellows into a dry, tannic (slightly citrus) finish. This is quite an interesting whisky that has a quality feel to it for such a young spirit. It’s not quite there yet for my palate, but I’m looking forward to seeing what their own production is like next year.

This one really is subjectively good - and for me it is really good. It definitely needs some sips and time for you to grasp or even understand. Its uniqueness might be separating - it is either you love it or you dislike it. I personally am really fond of it and am so happy my whisky dealer recommended it to me. Nose: It is buttery and has some really ripe sweet grapes to it. I also get some mushy apple pie aromas with a burned sugar crust. You also get the light peat directly from the start which is more in the background as part of the foundation. I also get some aromas of soft nougat chocolate. Palate: next to the peat, the sweet grapes and some early summer berries and fruits you get some soft cheese aromas. It may sound weird but it is like a mild Camembert or creme cheese with walnuts. It is not easy to define but this makes it so interesting. In general it is very sweet but definitely has some sourness as well. Aftertaste: The whisky lies on the tongue for a long time and fills your nose even after swallowing it for quiet some time with some buttery baked goods and the sweet grapes remaining. The peat is the first and the last aroma you get from this one. You go through so many different impression that you have to refill your glas again and again with the intend to sort in what you got from the previous dram. It is a rollercoaster from the coast - with the courage to try something really different - in which Raasay distillery in my eyes really succeeded. It really is a special whisky and I can’t wait for Raasays first 3y old batch this year. If this is what we can hope for, we are in for something really special, which will vibrantly enhance the scotch single malt scene.