Bottling your 30 Litre Cask

The wait is over. Distilled, filled and matured here on the Isle of Raasay, your exclusive Isle of Raasay Single Malt Scotch Whisky has come of age.

We’re delighted to be able to bottle this unique spirit here on the island and ensure that it reaches you safely.

How It Works

Your very own Isle of Raasay Single Malt is distilled, matured, and bottled on our small Hebridean island.

1. BOOK BOTTLING

Using our bottling form, fill out the details required and we’ll prepare your cask to be disgorged and bottled.

2. TIME TO BOTTLE

Your cask will be transported from our warehouse to our bottling hall, where it will be emptied and bottled by our team.

3. THE PAPERWORK

We will send you an invoice and paperwork for details such bottling, labelling and duty fees to be paid.

4. DELIVERY

We will arrange delivery of your bottles as well as your (now empty) cask. Collection from the delivery can also be arranged.

5. ENJOY

With your unique Isle of Raasay Single Malt in hand, what comes next is up to you.

How Do I Know When My Cask Is Ready to Bottle?

The maturation of Scotch Whisky is a complex balance of factors, one of the most important being the interaction of spirit and wood and the time they spend together in our warehouse. Your 30 Litre cask has now passed 3 years old, which means it is now a legal Scotch Whisky. As your cask is smaller, the increased contact between our new-make spirit and the oak will mean maturation has taken place at a much faster rate compared to a larger cask of the same age.

Additionally, the Angels’ Share – the rate at which spirit evaporates in the cask – will be considerably higher.

All these factors mean that we highly recommend bottling your 30 litre cask when it reaches 3 years old. This is the point in which we have found that our spirit reaches its optimum quality in this size of cask. Beyond that, losses due to evaporation and the increased speed of maturation may negatively impact the character of the spirit.

The Personal Touch

All of our single malt distilled, matured and bottled in our beautiful decanter-style whisky on the Isle of Raasay. It was designed to capture the elements of Raasay that help create our whisky.

To commemorate your own special bottles, you may wish to add a custom message or name to your label. Please outline your request in the bottling form and we’ll be in contact to discuss what we can do to help personalise your one-of-a-kind release.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Book Your Bottling

30 Litre Casks Bottling FAQs

Will my cask be bottled on Raasay?

As per the ownership conditions of our 30 litre casks, all casks must be matured and bottled here on the Isle of Raasay. The cost of bottling is not included in the cost of your cask.

Your cask will be carefully transported from our Inverarish Warehouse where it has been maturing and filled into our award-winning Isle of Raasay whisky bottle.

What strength will my whisky be bottled at?

All spirit is filled into our casks at a strength of 63.5% ABV.

The spirit strength will drop as the cask matures and evaporates during maturation.

For the characteristics of our 30 litre casks, we would recommend that bottles are filled at cask strength. If you would like to discuss bottling at a lower ABV, please get in touch with us.

Can 30 Litre Casks Be Matured More Than 3 Years?

We strongly recommend that you bottle your 30 litre cask after three years. Due to the increase surface to volume ratio in a 30 litre cask there is considerably more evaporation (angel’s share) and much greater influence on the flavour of the spirit from the oak cask.

If you have any questions about further maturation, please get in touch with us.

Can I customise my bottle label?

During the bottling process, whisky from your cask will be labelled under the Isle of Raasay Distillery brand by default.

Any other specific label text requests or requirements can be considered but should need to be arranged in advance. Please get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss customising your label.

How will my whisky be packaged?

All whisky from the Isle of Raasay be bottled in our award-winning decanter-style bottle. These bottles will be labelled and packed into cases for collection and delivery.

Example Total Bottling Cost

Included below is a table showing the estimated cost due per bottle for the dry goods, bottling, delivery and taxes. We have shown an estimated total cost based on an indicative 40 bottle yield from the cask. Please note, that the total cost of bottling your cask will depend on the outturn of bottles from the cask as well as the ABV of the liquid.

	1 x 70 cl Bottle	40 x 70cl Bottles
BOTTLING & PACKAGING	£2.18	£87.20
DELIVERY & POSTAGE (1)	£2.50	£100.00
UK DUTY (60% ABV; 70cl) (2)	£12.07	£482.83
VAT (3)	£8.35	£333.81
TOTAL COST DUE	£25.10	£1,003.84

(1) Estimated UK delivery and postage per pallet; international delivery costs TBC depending on recipient country.

(2) Indicative UK Duty at 60% abv (close to expected natural cask strength).

(3) 20% UK VAT charge applied to all dry goods and postage, plus original liquid costs.

Number of Bottles Per Cask

The number of bottles in your cask will vary depending on the angels’ share – the natural evaporation and loss of spirit that occurs during maturation – as well as the maturation period, bottle size and bottling strength.

We estimate a 30 litre cask will produce around 40 70cl bottles at cask strength. This number is approximate and will vary based on the above factors.

Delivery & Collection

Delivery costs will be charged at standard rates at the time of bottling. Bottles can also be collected from the distillery by prior arrangement at a mutually agreed time. All collection costs are the responsibility of the cask owner. Single Malt Scotch Whisky can only be exported from Scotland in bottles, so your cask will be bottled by us on Raasay and then exported to your country. Your 30 litre cask is included in the sale, and delivery or collection can be arranged along with your bottles.

Delivery is available to UK and European countries. Shipping cost will vary dependant on the delivery address.

International

If you would like to have your bottles delivered to an address outside of the UK, please contact us.

Duty & Tax Definitions

Duty
HMRC charge Duty on liquid based on the percentage of pure alcohol. This is measured in alcohol per volume (ABV).

VAT
UK value added tax (VAT) is currently 20%. Both Duty and VAT are due after your cask has been bottled and the finished goods are removed from our bonded warehouse.

Other Taxes
Different rates of Duty apply throughout the EU and the rest of the world.

Tax Variations
All taxes are subject to change by the UK government.

Duty & Tax Examples

The below examples are based on what we believe to be the worst case future scenario. The figures used in our examples are all subject to change.

Based on current UK duty rates of £28.74 (valid at January 2022) per litre of pure alcohol, a 30 litre cask when filled at 63.5% will hold 19.05 litres of pure alcohol, equating to a total of £547.50 alcohol duty. However, these rates are subject to change and the figure does not account for variables such as the angels’ share, which is the natural evaporation and subsequent loss of spirit that occurs during maturation in the cask.

For approximately 40 bottles – not including any potential evaporation in order to offset potential UK duty increases – we estimate that including bottling costs charged at standard industry rates, UK duty and VAT at 20%, the total payable will be around £2,009.2 in three years’ time, which equates to £50.23 per bottle including the original cask price of £999.

View Cask Terms & Conditions

You can view our full terms & conditions for cask purchases by clicking on the link below.

View Terms & Conditions

Require More Information?

To request more information on our cask offering, please complete the form below. A member of the Raasay Distillery team will then be in touch to answer any queries.

Alternatively, please feel free to contact our team on +44 (0) 1478 470178 or email [email protected]

Require More Information? To request more information on our cask offering, please complete the form below. A member of the Raasay Distillery team will then be in touch to answer any queries.