The Isle of Raasay Marsala Cask Single Malt whisky is here. Rejoice.
Yes, the distillery’s shiny new toy has arrived on the good ship Master of Malt. We had a swig of the stuff before you got your hands on any, so you would know what to expect. How decent of us.
The release smashes together two coastal giants, Sicily and Raasay. Bottled at 50.7% ABV and limited to just 12,300 bottles worldwide, the limited edition was matured exclusively in rare Marsala Vergine casks sourced from the historic Frazzitta winery in Sicily. It also introduces new look packaging, meaning it’s a doubly fun release for the distillery’s growing portfolio.
We’re more interested in the liquid here than the aesthetic…. BUT as far as whisky bottles go, we will say that Isle of Raasay has great style. Here, the colour scheme is inspired by the island’s rugged volcanic landscape. Think cool slate grey tones. Very pretty.
Introducing Isle of Raasay’s first Marsala cask single malt
As with all Raasay releases, the single malt whisky was distilled and matured entirely on the island. The distillery uses a combo of peated and unpeated barley in the distillation process and matures each separately before being married together.
The distillery does things in detail, so we don’t just have a cask type here. We have wood provenance and pedigree, too. The casks used are Marsala Vergine DOC barrels from Frazzitta. It is one of Sicily’s oldest Marsala producers and is known for ageing its wines for decades in traditional oxidative environments.
Marsala Vergine wines are known for their nutty, dry, and deeply oxidative profile, much like a dry sherry. They’re not the most common whisky cask, and it’s particularly rare to get a named producer like Frazzitta involved. But what cask characteristics has it brought?
Master distiller Alasdair Day explains, “It has brought an exceptional depth of flavour to our Raasay spirit. The casks we’ve used to mature our whisky have been seasoned with the bone-dry Marsala wine for up to 30 years. This adds beautiful layers of dried fruit, toasted nuts, and an oxidative depth”.
Raasay is a distillery that we’ve been impressed by.
Tasting Isle of Raasay’s first Marsala cask single malt
That is a fair amount of seasoning. According to Day, the whisky has notes of baked apples and maple syrup on the palate, balanced with dried pear, apricots, and a balsamic sweetness that all linger into a long smoky finish with echoes of roasted coffee. “It’s one of the most distinctive cask maturations we’ve ever released, elegant and assertive all at once,” he summarises.
It’s my kind of whisky. There’s a rugged peatiness, a proper glug of cask influence – but not enough to get in the way of Raasay – and I poured a second dram. I actually wanted to drink it. That’s the all-important bit in the world of whisky reviewing that can sometimes get overlooked in the pursuit of the most verbose tasting notes.
Raasay still needs a little more time, but it’s on the road to the kind of maturity that will go from applause to full standing ovations. And that road is already paved with good intentions and more than a few good drams.
The whisky is available now. BUY IT HERE.
What do you think of the whisky? Let us know in the comments below.
Isle of Raasay Marsala Cask Limited Release tasting notes:
Nose: Apples. Cooked, and seasoned, and sweet. Stem ginger, coffee fudge, and wine-stained oak are joined by this umami quality, like balsamic and soy sauce did the dirty. By a beach bonfire. And ate oysters as an aphrodisiac. There’s also a little chorizo and roasted chestnuts.
Palate: Sticky sweet with fruit in the form of the dried and dark (dates, plums, and sultanas) and more stewed orchard fruit. Aromatic spice, chocolate, ashes, mackerel, cured meat, a grassy, dill-like herbal note… a lot is going on here.
Finish: The palate drifts away after an age in a billow of smoke and salty, sherried sea.
