Approval has been given for work to begin on the conversion of Victorian house on the island of Raasay, into the island's first legal distillery, visitor centre and luxury accommodation.
Edinburgh-based R&B Distillers said it is delighted that its plans for Borodale House, for some years the Isle of Raasay Hotel, have been given the green light. R&B says it has taken months of planning; discussions with architects, meetings with the island community and talks with Raasay vole and bat specialists. But it has remained positive.
"While the winters on Raasay are not conducive to building but as the Scottish proverb goes, 'today’s rain is tomorrow’s whisky' and R&B Distillers are certain their new distillery will be worth the wait," the promotional material declares.
R&B stands for Raasay and Borders, and the company is planning another distillery in the Borders once Raasay is up and running- "two unique whisky landscapes brought together in one unique whisky company."
The men behind it are Alasdair Day, who worked for many years in the food industry and Bill Dobbie, co-founder of IOMART the Glasgow cloud computing and internet hosting firm.
Alasdair said the idea had started with his great-grandfather Richard Day’s cellar book. He had been a whisky blender in the Borders town of Coldstream. "The book has his accounts and at the back of it were all the whiskies he blended from 1899 to 1916."
Alasdair decided to recreate one of those whiskies. "That was the Tweeddale blend which I created in 2009. That’s how I got started in whisky."
He said that a site had yet to be chosen for their Borders distillery although an early poll had suggested Peebles would be popular.
His projections were that 11 jobs would be created on Raasay, which would be significant in a population of around 170. It is expected to boost the important tourist trade on the island which gave hospitality to Johnson and Boswell in 1773 on their famous tour of the Hebrides; and refuge to Bonnie Prince Charlie for a night when he was on the run after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Construction is set to begin on Raasay in April which should mean whisky in production in early 2017. While the distillery is under construction, R&B Distillers have released the aptly named 'While We Wait' single malt, a preview of the calibre and flavour of whisky yet to come.
The company also recently launched an exclusive offer for whisky aficionados: membership to R&B 's Na Tùsairean club(Gaelic for ‘The Pioneers’). The inaugural 100 casks of whisky made at the new distillery on Raasay will be bottled exclusively for Na Tùsairean members who will receive one bottle each year for ten years.
Members will also receive miniatures so they can experience a dram of the whisky without breaking into their collector’s bottle, and exclusive rights to stay at the distillery’s luxury accommodation on Raasay
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