We are proud to bring you our first ever whisky made with 100% Bere Barley sourced from the historic Paxton South Mains Farm in Berwickshire, and in our brand new packaging just for single cask whiskies
Bottled at natural cask strength and limited to just 2 single casks, this highly exclusive release is unpeated and full of flavours of malty biscuits, savoury spice and dark fruits. We also managed to nab our Co-founder & Master Distiller, Alasdair Day, for some quick-fire questions, so scroll down to read more!
Bere barley is an ancient landrace that can be traced back to the fertile crescent in the Middle East over 10,000 years ago. It moved slowly with people as they migrated over thousands of years, slowly adapting to each new climate. It arrived in Scotland reaching the Hebrides over 2,500 years ago. Our Bere barley was grown for us by Alex Home Robertson at Paxton South Mains farm in Berwickshire close to the border with England.‘Ber’ is an the old Scots word meaning barley and ‘Wick’ is an old Norse word for a town or a place, so Berwickshire means literally the ‘place of the barley’ and lies between North Berwick and Berwick upon Tweed. Bere would have been grown in Berwickshire from 2,500 years ago until modern breeding was introduced between 1918 and 1939.
Key Characteristics of Bere Barley:
Tasting Notes:
“Bere barley brings a completely different flavour profile to our Isle of Raasay single malt, combining perfectly with the ex Bordeaux red wine casks it has been matured in, resulting in notes of malty biscuits, savoury spice, and dark fruits.”
– Alasdair Day, Co-founder & Master Distiller, Isle of Raasay Distillery
Like everything we do, we take our inspiration always from our island home. Raasay, although small, has many historical and natural places of significance, and we often provide maps to visitors to help plan their Raasay adventure when they arrive.
“Inspired by a geographical map of the Isle of Raasay, discovered in a historical book from the 1920s, our new single cask release packaging design is a nod to the land and its history, capturing the energy and intrepid spirit of the distillery today.”
– William Dobbie, Managing Director, Isle of Raasay Distillery
1. What is Bere barley, and why did Raasay Distillery choose to work with this ancient grain?
Bere barley is an ancient landrace that can be traced back to the fertile crescent in the Middle East over 10,000 years ago. Our Bere barley was grown for us by Alex Home Robertson at Paxton South Mains farm in Berwickshire close to the border with England. By working with Alex we were able to have Berwickshire Bere Barley to distil on Raasay. It has a remarkable story and produces a completely different spirit flavour profile.
2. Bere barley is known for being a lower-yielding crop compared to modern varieties. What were the challenges in sourcing and distilling with it if any?
Yes, as Bere barley is a 6 row barley (i.e. has six rows of grain in the ear of the barley instead of two) it produces much smaller grain which in turn weigh less per ear of barley than those from a 2 row. Therefore the yield (tonnes / hectare) is much lower than a 2 row. Also, Bere is very tall and top heavy which means that it goes over and “lodges” (becomes tangled with other stems) prior to harvest, making it very difficult to harvest. In addition, during milling, mashing and fermentation, the yield of starch and sugar is lower resulting in a lower yield of alcohol (alcohol per tonne of barley). A “double whammy” on yield! However, all of this is worth it in pursuit of flavour.
3. The Bere barley for this release was grown at Paxton South Mains Farm in Berwickshire. Why did you choose to source the grain from this specific location?
Alex and his father were able to source a small amount of Bere seed from North Uist and spent years multiplying it up. As a result they have helped “save” and reintroduce Bere barley on a more “commercial” scale. Alex read an article in the Glasgow Herald from an interview I did that mentioned my family’s whisky connection with J&A Davidson in Coldstream, close to Paxton South Mains. He contacted me to ask if I would be interested in his Berwickshire Bere barley to distil on Raasay, so I got in my car and went to see him and this release of our Isle of Raasay single malt is the result many years later.
4. How does the unique soil and microclimate of Berwickshire influence the characteristics of the Bere barley, and potentially the final flavour of the spirit?
Yes, so many variables. Berwickshire, indeed the East Coast of Scotland is well suited to growing barley. The South East of Scotland is ideal barley growing land, historically know as the land of the barley, Ber – Wick.
5. The whisky has been matured exclusively in Ex-Bordeaux Red Wine Casks. What specifically about these casks made them the ideal choice to complement the unpeated Bere barley spirit?
Bere gives really malty biscuity notes to our spirit that balances perfectly with the savoury spice from the French oak (Quercus petraea & Quercus robur) and with the dark fruit flavours from the ex left bank Bordeaux red wine.
6. How does the combination of the unpeated, malty Bere barley and the dark fruit notes from the Bordeaux casks create a flavour profile that is unique for Raasay?
Yes, very few distillers have bottled their single malt distilled with Bere barley (possibly just Bruichladdich, Arran and Springbank have) and none using Berwickshire Bere barley fully matured in ex Bordeaux red wine cask so this is a first from Isle of Raasay distillery.
7. How would you describe the flavour profile of the Bere Barley spirit before it went into the cask?
I tasted the new make spirit blind along with our normal new make spirit with Dave Broom and Ronnis Cox. We were all blown away by how great the flavour was. Dave picked the Bere barley out straight away with it’s mellow malty, biscuity characteristics.
8. For the whisky enthusiast, are there any flavours that have surprised you during maturation?
No, this was done by design, to use Bere an ancient landrace to bring flavour characteristics from the past but still create a temporary single malt on Raasay. After all, that is what we do.
9. These single cask Bere Barley releases are extremely limited. How does this rarity and format appeal to whisky enthusiasts?
Single casks are as rare as it comes, after all it is the smallest unit we fill and every cask is different. Bottled at cask strength this is as close as to straight from the cask as you get. Unless of course you join us for our Dunnage warehouse tour on Raasay and taste our spirit straight from the cask.
10. How does the Bere Barley release compare to Raasay’s core expression, The Draam?
It has some of the dark fruit and savoury spice of The Draam but with no peat smoke and the lovely malty, biscuit flavour from the Bere.
11. After distilling with Bere barley, will there be a focus on alternative or heritage grains being used at Raasay in the future?
Ah, now there’s a question. Well, there is more Bere barley spirit maturing in the warehouse. There is organic barley from Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands. Dhurrie farm regeneratively grown barley, West Backs barley both from Campbeltown and of course our Isle of Raasay barley all maturing nicely for the future.
