R&B Distillers (Raasay and Borders) have been granted permission by Highland Council to bring the first legal distillery to Raasay in the Inner Hebrides. R&B, founded by Alasdair Day and Bill Dobbie, currently produces a Borders whisky too.
The plans for Raasay, will see the former Borodale House, also formerly The Isle of Raasay Hotel, converted into a small distillery, and visitor experience centre.
The owners plan to market Raasay as a ‘a leading distiller of niche whiskies’ with batch production and whisky bar selling an extensive range of batch whiskies.”
R&B Distillers hopes to release the first batch of Raasay whisky by 2020 and produce up to 150,000 bottles of whisky a year thereafter. They aim to have the distillery up and running by the end of January 2017. They haven’t yet revealed where the new Borders distillery will they put it to a recent consumer vote, and the resounding vote was for Peebles.
Meanwhile R&B have also released a single malt whisky called ‘While We Wait’. This offers a preview of the calibre and flavour of whisky yet to come. It brings together two expressions from one distillery: one peated, one unpeated. Its newly released Borders whisky is a single grain whisky, lighter and softer in flavour than the smoky peat dram of While We Wait.