This is Westie Sponge Two. Our celebration of the single malts of the Western Highlands and Islands continues with a 5 year old, 2018 small batch bottling from Isle Of Raasay distillery.

Angus has wanted to bottle a cask of Raasay for a long time. He loves the distillery, the people who own and run it and he really loves the spirit they produce. It took a while to find the right combination of casks, he wanted a blend that showcased the spirit front and centre and with this small batch marriage of two casks from 2018 we believe we have achieved that beautifully. A refill hogshead combined with a 1st fill barrel provides the right balance of maturity and sweetness as well as the oiliness, waxiness, peppery notes and subtle peat of the spirit.

Tasting Notes

Nose : fresh, coastal, and clean, with a lot of mineral character, subtle waxiness, crisp background peat smoke and a sense of peppery warmth and saltiness.

Palate : full on and textural, shows the youthful power with a lot of big salty notes, sweet oiliness, and that background peat again, but this is still excellently mature for 5 years old. More lemony notes, more costal impressions, and more waxes!

Finish : long, fatty, fresh, and full of thick oiliness, peppery warmth, hessian and light tarry notes.

About Raasay

Co-founders Bill Dobbie and Alasdair Day first met in 2013 and formed R&B Distillers with the common goal of building Scotland’s leading artisanal distiller. Focusing on local production, provenance, quality and doing things differently.

By 2015, they had identified the Isle of Raasay as providing the ingredients for the perfect dram, and planning permission to begin work revitalising the Isle of Raasay’s nineteenth century Borodale House into a state-of-the-art distillery, visitor centre, and luxury accommodation was granted in 2016.

Starting with a blank sheet of paper, they set about designing a distillery to create exceptional whisky that develops elegance, complexity, and depth early on in the maturation process and a handcrafted Hebridean gin that encapsulates Raasay’s style, character and impressive geological variety.

About Decadent Drinks

"Decadent Drinks" is the name of a Scottish independent bottler of fine spirits like whisky, rum, cognac, and wine, known for its fun, creative, and sometimes satirical approach to bottling, featuring original artwork on its labels and a range of products including its original Whisky Sponge brand and other brands like Whiskyland and Decadent Drams.