[May, 2017]  "While we wait" that the new Raasay spirit matures to become a whisky finally the distillery owners do what many others did before them:  They buy whisky from undisclosed other distilleries and sell it under their own brand name simply to raise some money (building a new distillery and producing whisky is a costly adventure that seriously damages your cash flow, so any cash generated from whatsoever source is highly appreciated).  Nevertheless this is a quite interesting bottling to follow up as (usually) owners select whisky that comes close to the style of spirit they aim for in their own distillery - so this is a kind of preview and you can check later if they were successful in finally producing what they wanted to achieve... 

So if this is true for the Raasay distillery as well then we can expect a lightly peated and vanilla-driven toffee profile with rather dominant wine cask finishes.  It reminds me somehow of the Talisker Port Ruighe https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/40583/talisker-port-ruighe.  A modern style whisky that is easy to drink with a few strong spikes that does not put empasis on balance or harmony.  It prefers a bold first impression over a sustainable long-term image.  Sure, this is pure speculation and time will tell the truth...

Peat rather mineral. This nose is as delicate, but not very intense. On the palate, the peat is light and the texture fleshy. Tuscan wine finish? Oh good. A slight sweetness in the finish that is intense and flowery.

Enthusiasm 3/5

Tasting notes by David Broom (Scotchwhisky.com):

NOSELight. Very light in fact, with some raspberry juice and firm cereal elements sitting in the background which bring to mind a distillery millroom. There’s a little touch of smoke, but the fruit – which with water develops into jam skimmings – dominates. There is a sense of immaturity.  PALATEGreen notes to start with – unripe strawberries in the punnet, then comes a slightly odd antiseptic note. Slightly thin on the palate. The fruit is very sweet, but it can’t mask the tightness of the base spirit.FINISHThe smoke leans out slightly.CONCLUSIONThis has the most peculiar rose colour akin to dentists’s mouthwash – coming from the ‘Tuscan red wine casks’ it’s been finished in. RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIMEThis is what Raasay is about.