Category Archives: Deanston

Deanston 24yo 1996/2020 (50%, Hunter Laing, Old Malt Cask, Sherry Butt HL 17661, 452 bottles)

Deanston is not a Whisky or distillery I was interested in for a long time, no Deanston came much later. I obviously knew Deanston existed, but I felt it didn’t get much love, and you hardly read about Deanston back in the day, so I didn’t bother even to buy it and others didn’t bring it to tastings I attended. So it flew a long time under everybody’s radar until… In 2015 Deanston released their 20yo matured in Oloroso casks. All of a sudden Deanston found itself on the Whisky map, and people started to like it. Today Deanston is seen as distillery that puts out great honest stuff, a bit of a go-to Malt if your local watering hole hasn’t much stock of Springbank, a distillery with a similar “feel”. I liked the 20yo as well (someone brought it to a tasting), but never got to buy one, instead I went for several expressions of their Organic Whiskies. I suspected these might be maybe a bit of their take on a similar series from Bruichladdich, only those are much younger, or even the recent Springbank Local Barley’s. However the first bottle I opened and reviewed here was a Bordeaux Finish I probably got a great deal on, since I am usually very careful with Wine finished Whiskies. This Independently bottled Deanston is only the second review of a Deanston on these pages, but certainly not the last, since Deanston turned on their transponder and Deanston is now on everybody’s radar.

Color: Orange Gold.

Nose: Elegant with nice clean oak notes. Fresh smelling, almost floral even, but at the same time also old and distinguished. A deep fruity, partly waxy and well aged smell (that’s the old style). This also might have to do with the glass and the Whisky warming up when holding the glass in my hand. Creamy vanilla dust with sweet barley. Excellent balance. The Sherry adds some red fruit, but not a lot, also a fresh sense of acidity pops up, next to a paper-note (paper without ink). Bigger role than expected is played by a sweet and minty aroma. I may have mentioned Menthos before. But it’s like eating those. Hints of citrussy dishwater liquid cut through the waxy fruitiness. Next more freshly shaven American oak, mixed in with some toffee and/or caramel. On occasion it smells slightly too dry, because of the fresh oak notes, to be a true dessert Whisky. Now it’s closer to an aperitif because of the lack of “bigness”, or is it? Remarkable nose, it seems like it phases in and out of different aromas and notes, phasing out and phasing back in again over time. It smells complex, but also like it won’t be big on the palate. We’ll see. Nice smell of red fruits like a good old Sherry cask would impair back in the day. Herbal and vegetal as well. Licorice with horseradish. Can’t really put my finger on it now, what this herbal bit precisely is, although there is some lavas in there, but wait there is more. Cumin with gravy, yet still more. I remember the smell of this wood from casks that held Red Wines. Creamy, so American oak ones. This Deanston has a lovely depth to it. Smell it with a low flow of air, but smell it for a longer while (in one go, without passing out that is) to unlock all the underlying beauty this nose has. More of this minty acidity, which seems to be not fully integrated. Its definitely there, this slight unbalance, but on the nose its a minor gripe. The back of the smell feels like rain on earth on a dull day.

Taste: On entry, fruity, less sweet than I thought. Nutty toffee with hints of cannabis, and yes a bit thin, but also very tasty, well balanced stuff. Quite waxy and fruity, again old style and warming. Watered down toffee. Good balance, especially if you let it breathe for a while. Definitely let it breathe! The start is very tasty indeed. It matches the nose. Wood has a soft, yet big presence, but not only. There is a sense of fresh oak as well. Somewhat prickly and spicy, wet wood yet also toasted cask, giving it structure. More than in other Whiskies, the wood plays quite a big role in this one. A lot of shades of wood are passing by, and most surprisingly, woody bitterness isn’t one of them. A lot of great stuff is going on. Pecan ice cream, with a tad of warm honey and the taste of perfumed wood. This Whisky would make for a fantastic ice cream flavour. A kind of wet bitterness to the wood. Toffee here as well. This is a very, very interesting Whisky, tasty as well, not for novices though, since you need to be somewhat experienced and open minded to fully “get” it and it would be a waste of money if you’re not there yet. It’s not cheap, nor is it an easy Whisky as well. Again one that works well now when analyzing, yet somewhat less so when casually sipping. I like it better now than when I try it when watching a movie.

This one you have to work a bit, most of the nice bits aren’t well noticed when casually sipped. This really needs your full attention. A few years back I tried a wonderful 25yo Deanston from Hunter Laing that was much easier (Thanks Paul!), Bigger, right out of the gate, and one that did not need work from the taster at all. I might have expected more of the same buying this one, but its different, is it worse? No probably not, this one is beautiful as well, maybe even more complex, it only needs your attention some more. To sum this one up: toffee, (red) fruit, and wood. By the way, this one definitely needs a lot of air, the second half of the bottle was most definitely better than the first.

Points: 89.

Deanston 10yo (46.3%, OB, Bordeaux Red Wine Cask Finish, for Travel Retail, 2019)

Deanston, once the ugly duckling of the Scottish Whisky world, its reputation then just a hair better than that of Fettercairn (no offence), but look at Deanston now. Deanston, may have started the race from the pits, after yet another engine change, but are making their way up the field in an impressing manner. If you look closely it is easy to see they took a hard look at what Springbank is doing (right). Maybe even asked for some advise, and if so, they clearly got the point as well. They left nothing to chance. First of all, the quality has improved a lot. Quality sells by word of mouth, because I don’t see a big marketing ploy behind either Deanston nor Springbank, and Deanston surely has grown a lot more popular.

Besides the quality, Deanston is issuing very good Whiskies in different price brackets, and the amount of single cask, or small batch releases have grown. Next, where Springbank is (again) successful with “Local Barley”, Deanston plays the “Organic” trump card. (Bollocks, Trump, these days this is almost a dirty word). Even the new bottle design of Deanston resembles the Springbank bottle a bit. Just look at the base of the bottle where words show up in the glass itself. So they adapted a successful formula and rightly so. It clearly works. Even the people I know are into Springbank (I’m one of them), are now also very much interested in Deanston, and liking it. Did I already mention, that the keys to the success of Springbank and thus more recently, Deanston, are its people? They are! Kudo’s to you!

Color: Orange gold, no red hue (looks like a Bourbon)

Nose: Wonderful creamy notes with nice red fruity notes, tiniest hint of apple pie and a sharper woody note. Floral as well. Smoky toffee. Very creamy in fact. Nothing Wine-like at all, although, maybe just a bit. Would I still feel the same if I had smelled this without knowing it was a Wine finish? Maybe so, yet the more this breathes, and if you are patient enough to let is sit in your glass for 10 to 15 minutes, the Red Wine nose becomes more pronounced. There is this slightly burned and slightly tarry aroma from the wine cask and this unmistakeable red fruit candy aroma, that always pops up with Red Wine cask finishes. We are still just starting with smelling this Malt and it already smells like something that was finished for just the right amount of time. Also, the base Whisky that was finished like this must have been of pretty high quality as well. Definitely American oak came first, it’s creamy with vanilla underneath. People at Deanston are really knowing what they are doing now, with a smell like this, and this after a Bordeaux Finish. In the early days of finishing, Red Wine casks, weren’t my favourites, not by a long shot. They were often severely overdone. Lets get back to smelling. Next a nice fresh green note. Plants on the window sill on a warm day. Lots of creamy warm milk chocolate. Quite soft after the sharper (oaky) start. The oak is still here, by the way. Within the soft notes some wet cardboard emerges, along with more sweet red fruit water. Forest strawberry lemonade. Well balanced altogether and smells very distinguished and mature. Is this really only a 10yo with a Bordeaux finish? It seems just too good for that. It surely doesn’t come across as such. I really like the smell of this. Amazing accomplishment.

Taste: Soft wood, thin, runny caramel, toffee and Winey red fruits, sweet and sour. Lemon acidity. American toasted oak vanilla with chewy toffee but also spicy wood and spicy spices. Yet the whole is still quite soft. Soft, warm milk chocolate and fresh almonds. Here the Wine finish is on top of the toffee and milk chocolate. Seems slightly less balanced than the nose was. Its a liquid Mars bar, Twix and Ferrero Rocher in one! The Wine finish is done with taste so it must have been used sparsely. Nothing wrong with this Wine finish. This Malt drinks like chocolate milk, dangerously easy going. Wine in the finish, as well as some hazelnuts and toast. Dare I say it also has some soapy notes? It does, is that a problem? This time it isn’t. As long as you don’t start foaming from the mouth (I didn’t). Somewhat simpler in the taste than the nose was but still a good and accomplished Malt. After sipping this, the nose becomes even better. Warming going down, like warm chocolate milk. Medium finish at best and finally a creamy aftertaste. One bottle of this isn’t nearly enough. Costs next to nothing compared to what you are getting for your hard earned cash, (I got it even on sale). Get more, should still be widely available. Finally a word of warning. This actually deteriorates a bit (even more soft, even sweeter and a bit too velvety) with air, so don’t have it in your glass too long. It’s best when freshly poured (spicier).

There is a danger to this Malt. When I opened this, I was really surprised how nice this is. Liked every drop of it, and the first half of the bottle went pretty quick, and all of a sudden I had enough of its big, sweet, tarry and winey profile. I had to push it to the back of the lectern to get away from it for a while, so lesson learned and just don’t overdo it. It is a good Malt, with an in your face profile, which can take you hostage for a while. If this happens to you, don’t worry, just press “Pauze” and after a while you can press “Play” again, and all is back to normal. Good one for a more than decent price. Like it.

Points: 86