Isle of Raasay distiller hails 'relief' of US breakthrough as plans step up for Stateside launch

And among those feeling that a weight had been lifted off the shoulders was Alasdair Day, co-owner of Islay of Raasay Distillery.

Launching a distillery is challenging at the best of times. But in the case of Raasay, which Mr Day founded with entrepreneur Bill Dobbie in 2017, the distillery’s formative years have come amid a pandemic and a damaging protectionist policy (sparked by a long-running trade dispute between America and the European Union over aircraft subsidies) in the most valuable export market for Scotch whisky.

“It’s great news and a great relief to hear of the four-month suspension of US tariffs on single malt Scotch whisky,” Mr Day said.

“The timing works well for us with the release of our signature Isle of Raasay Hebridean single malt in May. We had previously been focusing on our Isle of Raasay Gin for the US market but are now working hard along with our partners in the US to launch our single malt there in the very near future.”

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Isle of Raasay is the trading name of Mr Day and Mr Dobbie’s R&B Distillers, formed in 2014, under which they also plan to build a distillery in the Borders (the B in R&B).

The two bring different backgrounds to the project. Mr Day comes from strong Scotch whisky lineage. His

great-grandfather Richard Day had been a whisky blender in the town of Coldstream, and since 2009 Mr Day has been recreating his Borders blend, based on the original recipe, under the Tweeddale brand, having previously worked in the food industry for 25 years. The family’s connection “skipped a couple of generations” before it was reignited by Mr Day. “It is good to have that heritage,” he said, revealing he still has some of his great-grandfather’s possessions, including a cellar book, and a sales ledger from 1881/82.

Mr Dobbie is equally passionate about whisky, though is perhaps better known as an entrepreneur, through his involvement with tech companies such as iomart, Cupid and DVD 365, which morphed into Lovefilm.

Raasay bceame the first “legal” distillery on the Hebridean island, population circa 300, when it arrived. It was developed at the Borodale House hotel, where a visitor centre and shop have been added to the six en suite bedrooms. They have also built warehouses at the site, where bottling and cask filling takes place, and further two maturation warehouses in the village of Inverarish. All in all it has been a “multi-million-pound venture” thus far, said Mr Day, who described the investment as a “legacy from Bill’s point of view, and a family business as well.”

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Although the pandemic has brought huge disruption, the distillery was able to launch its inaugural single malt bottling in November.

Just short of 9,000 bottles were released, some 3,400 sold as a pre-order online which sold out by September last year, with the rest allocated to buyers around the world.

“We always had a plan to have a small release of a three year old,” Mr Day said. “It fantastic to have our first [single malt]. We always say legal single malt from Raasay because there is some evidence of distilling in the past, but very different to where we are now.”

The three-year was not the first Raasay whisky to be sold by R&B, though. Raasay While We Wait, based on malt from a Highland distillery, was released in 2015 to showcase the “slightly peated, dark fruit flavour” it is seeking to create. This has been sold alongside

the Tweeddale and Isle of Raasay Gin, which it introduced in July 2019.

“We had these two whiskies we had been selling and creating sales channels [with],” Mr Day said. “It was five years’ work for something that was not from Raasay itself, but it meant we had 15 countries we were able to allocate the inaugural release to, as well as wholesale customers in the UK.”

Of course, all of the distillers’ careful planning was thrown up in the air by coronavirus. Mr Day said the fact the company had moved into online selling before the crisis has been “invaluable”, given that it could no longer count on revenue from its hotel rooms, visitor centre and distillery shop.

“The reality is it changed everything,” he said. “We sat down in March last year, and just rewrote our budget and business plan. We restructured the business to purely focus on our online sales. As part of that we developed these virtual tastings.”

Noting that the distillery’s core Hebridean malt will be comprised of malts from six different casks that will be vatted together, Mr Day: “We were able to create a tasting around these six casks. That really became our focus.”

The distiller, which employs 20 people on the island, is on course to turn over £2m this year.

“It is the silver lining out of all of this, the fact we had developed our online sales,” added Mr Day.

Yet selling online has not been without its challenges. Mr Day said fulfilling orders in key markets such as Germany and the Netherlands has become more difficult since Brexit, with Parcelforce having suddenly stopped distributing products which are over 20 per cent alcohol by volume to Europe. That has meant a significant increase in costs, which the distiller will reluctantly add to its online price for delivery. “[It] will clearly reduce our sales to those countries in the short term,” Mr Day said.

Six questions

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I have been fortunate to have been able to travel to many countries on business.

I have particularly enjoyed the food in Japan, Taiwan, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, not to mention the beer in Belgium, Wine in France, Spain and Italy, Rye whiskey in the States and Mezcal in Mexico.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

At school I thought I wanted to be a vet but I’m sure that was mostly inspired by watching James Herriot on TV. It did inspire my interest in the biological sciences that quite diversely lead to a degree in botany.

What was your biggest break in business?

The decision to start my own business to recreate The Tweeddale, my great grandfather’s blended Scotch whisky. This decision eventually resulted in co-founding the Isle of Raasay Distillery some five years later.

What was your worst moment in business?

The realisation that starting your own business means overcoming one hurdle after another and that each new hurdle is bigger than the previous one. When the barrier to entry becomes a first-hand reality.

Who do you most admire and why?

I admire many people, usually the underdog and those who have had to prove themselves the hard way but made it nonetheless.

What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

I’m not really one for reading books, but I do like my Spotify, tthough my eclectic playlists are not always popular with my children.