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