Review No.79. Deanston 12 Year Old
Deanston are another highland distillery that use unpeated malts, Glengoyne being the other that I am aware of. This distillery wasn’t on my radar until I started to see positive reviews amongst whisky fans online. Their malt is mainly used to supply blends but and they have a limited core range consisting of the Virgin Oak and this 12 year old. The rest of what they produce are limited editions finished in a variety of casks as well as an organic bottling.
Whisky: Deanston 12 Year Old Single Malt, 46.3%
Nose: Vanilla, apple, citrus, honey, metallic
Taste: Malt, vanilla, mixed forest fruits, honey, oak
Finish: Tinned fruit salad, tannins
Score: 2.5
Summary: Like Glengoyne, this also comes across as a well made malt. It has the typical highland flavours one would expect and is an ideal summer sipper. The notes of vanilla, honey and malt works a treat, making this a dangerously easy to drink. The only issue I have is that although this is presented at a high strength of 46.3% I got less complexity than I expected. I needed to use water to open it up but was finding that it was not really revealing any new flavours, just bringing out what was already there a bit more. However, the flavours that I was getting were enjoyable and I would recommend you try this very drinkable dram.
Scoring scale: My scores reflect a balance of the overall experience, availability and cost for a whisky,
1 – not to my preference
2 – tastes fine but does not excite me
3 – more to my liking and would revisit occasionally
4 – very much to my liking and would consider as a regular feature on my whisky shelf
5 – permanent feature on my whisky shelf
Image source: www.thewhiskyexchange.com