Raasay 4 Year Old 2020 SMWS Single 1st Fill Chinkapin Oak Barrel 162.3 Grilled Lobster Tail in Garlic Butter Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2025) 70cl

1 of 264 bottles produced from a single 1st Fill Chinkapin Barrel

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!

The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.

TASTING NOTES

We imagined chicken breasts in a marinade of soy sauce, ginger, pepper and honey served on a bed of a spicy sweet-smoked vegetable stir fry. On the palate “it certainly took no prisoners”, as we found ferociously smoked almonds, ash-coated goat's cheese and sun-charred grapes. We all grabbed the water jug and following dilution the scent was a mixture of sweet grilled lobster tails in garlic butter and vanilla custard tarts served with smoked butter caramel. We then carefully approached the dram and tasted it but there was no need for hesitancy as we chewed on roasted and dried ancho chillies, with a balance between sweet and smoky flavours and a manageable heat.

About Raasay

60.9% ABV

70cl