As we officially welcome in The Draam, read on to find out about beekeeping on the Isle of Raasay as well as a warming cocktail to tide you over for the remaining winter months, made with real Raasay honey and The Draam – recipe at the end!
With The Draam now available via our UK website, let’s recap what makes our signature style single malt so special:
Our award-winning single malt is a carefully crafted recipe, born from our own whisky guru and Master Distiller, Alasdair. This unique recipe combines peated and unpeated Raasay spirit, matured separately in three different types of oak cask: ex-American Rye, virgin Chinkapin oak, and ex-Bordeaux red wine. The first of this cask combination in Scotch whisky history and resulting in a lightly peated whisky oozing with dark fruity flavours. Young in age but with a complexity that speaks beyond its years. Unapologetically, authentically, Raasay.

It’s not everyday you get to use not one, but TWO locally made ingredients in a cocktail (sadly Raasay isn’t hot enough for lemons!), and for our favourite winter warmer we are so proud to collaborate with Raasay’s very own beekeeper, Simon. Keeping only native black bees, Simon produces all his honey on the Isle of Raasay which has its share of trials and tribulations. Here’s what he had to say:
“Beekeeping on Raasay could be described as a ‘labour of love’. The climate, harsh weather blowing in from the Atlantic, means that the bees need to be tough to survive. For that reason we only keep the pure native honey bee, known locally as ‘black bees’ which have evolved to cope with cool and windy conditions. Black bees are at serious risk of being lost, due to interbreeding with other ‘imported’ honey bees but Raasay’s isolation means that this population is safe for the future.
The bees start foraging in April, collecting pollen and nectar from early flowering shrubs and trees such as gorse and willow. Then they move on to the island’s abundant wild flowers, bluebells, clover and wild thyme, to mention just a few. Then in August comes the heather, which the bees particularly love.
The weather on Raasay also means that honey crops are much smaller than in other parts of the UK. The bees themselves consume a lot of what they produce and in some seasons there is no surplus at all to take as a crop. However, the small crops of honey produced are of excellent quality and they taste all the sweeter for being so ‘hard won’ by the bees and by myself.” – Simon L.

The Draam Hot Toddy
An simple but impactful cocktail, and a firm team favourite; here’s the recipe so you can make it at home:
Ingredients:
- 25-50ml Isle of Raasay, The Draam (depending if you prefer a single or double measure)
- 1 tsp Wild Flower Pure Raasay Honey
- 20ml lemon juice
Method:
Add all ingredients to your favourite mug and add hot water. Stir to fully combine and garnish with a lemon slice. You could also add a cinnamon stick for extra cosiness. Serve, enjoy and don’t forget to tag us in your creations with #TheDraam!
