R&B breaks ground on new Raasay distillery

R&B Distillers has broken ground on building its new Scotch whisky distillery on the Isle of Raasay, with production set to commence in April next year.

Construction of the Isle of Raasay’s first legal distillery has commenced

Planning approval for the distillery, which will be the first legally operated distillery in Raasay, was given by the Highland Council in February this year.

Based on the grounds of Victorian villa and former hotel Borodale House, which has been unoccupied since 2006, the Isle of Raasay Distillery will be equipped with a visitors’ centre and luxury accommodation for members of its newly-launched Na Tùsairean club.

Translating as ‘The Pioneers’, club members will also own the first 100 casks of whisky distilled at Raasay.

According to R&B, the distillery will provide employment opportunities for 10% of the island’s 120 residents. It will be furnished with two copper pot stills from Frilli in Tuscany, and plans to bottle its first single malt in 2020.

R&B Distillers estimates that the distillery will produce 150,000 bottles of Scotch whisky annually and will attract 12,000 visitors in its first year of operation.

“It has taken an enormous amount of effort and endeavour to get to this point and we are all aware of what we still have to achieve, however we are delighted that work has commenced on site,” said co-founder Alasdair Day.

“We are all full of excitement and anticipation for the future as we aim to be Scotland’s leading craft distiller.”

Day named R&B Distillers, which stands for Raasay and Borders, in homage to his two great-grandfathers. One great-grandfather, Allan MacDonald, hailed from the Hebrides while the other, Richard Day, was a master-blender in the Scottish Borders in the early 19th century.

R&B Distillers is also planning to open a distillery in the Scottish Borders, but said work would not start on the site until the Isle of Raasay Distillery is open.

In December last year, R&B released two whiskies ahead of the opening of both distilleries, sourcing liquid from an unnamed Highland distillery. The company said the bottlings embodied the styles of whiskies that will be launched by the Raasay and Borders sites.

Raasay While We Wait is a single malt whisky that uses peated and unpeated liquid originally aged in Bourbon casks, but finished in French oak Tuscan red wine casks.

Meanwhile, Borders is a single grain whisky first matured in Bourbon casks before finishing in Oloroso Sherry barrels, creating a “lighter, softer” Lowland style. It contains 50% wheat and 50% malted barley.