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Raasay Distillery Aims To Set Up Shop On Tiny Scottish Isle

Does the idea that locating to a remote Scottish island will somehow make the whisky coming from a new distillery seem that much more magical to you? It is a question to ponder as you read the following story about yet another new Scotch making operation setting up shop on a tiny speck of land off of Scotland’s coast.

Whereas the first distillery we profiled, Isle of Harris, is getting ready to throw open its doors on a small island some 30 miles of the northwest corner of Scotland, Raasay Distillery is looking to get busy on the tiny Hebridean island of Raasay. This 24.1 square mile island, situated between the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland, is also in the northwest area, though not quite as far out to sea as Harris.

Raasay Distillery
artist’s rendering of Raasay Distillery (image via R&B Distillers)

Raasay, with a population of under 200, is said to be best known as “birthplace of the poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish literary renaissance.” Beyond that, it is a curiosity as to why a distillery is setting up there. And we aren’t just talking a guy with a still in a roadside shed, but rather a multimillion dollar distillery and “visitor experience center” that reportedly is expected to draw 12,000 visitors alone during its first year of operation after it throws open the doors at the start of 2017.

Raasay Distillery is the idea of Scottish entrepreneur Bill Dobbie and business partner Alasdair Day, who currently produces the Tweeddale whisky brand. R&B Distillers, the company they founded in 2014, is hopeful to have their first batch of Raasay whisky by 2020 and also be producing up to 150,000 bottles of whisky a year thereafter.

How much Dobbie and Day hope to stuff onto this tiny island to support their projected visitor numbers ends up looking something akin to a little distillery Disneyland. Beyond the whisky making operation and visitor center, should permission be given to their ideas, plans also reportedly call for restoration of a derelict Victorian hotel they hope will “put Raasay on the map for whisky lovers around the globe.”

“It’s incredible to think that there are still areas of Scotland completely forgotten by whisky,” said Day in a statement. “The Isle of Raasay is one of those unique locations and the perfect home for R&B Distillers to handcraft whiskies of uncommon provenance. We’re now working hard to engineer a whisky destination unlike any other. From the magnificent views over to Skye, to experiencing craft distilling first hand, we can’t wait for visitors to discover our whiskies, the island and the community here on Raasay.”

Beyond the Raasay island operation, the pair hopes to open the first distillery in the Scottish Borders region since the last one closed 150 or so years ago. Also, in what we guess is a way to help build brand awareness, are plans later this year to release a whisky blended from two “Highland whiskies form one distillery.” It will be called, fittingly enough, “Raasay While We Wait.”

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