DuckDrams

Deanston, not among the most well-known Scotch distilleries, but one that should be!

Deanston first came under my radar some years ago in a ralfy.com review, if I don’t misremember. I tried it in an Edinburgh pub, in a context where the focus was more on the company than the dram, but remember getting a positive impression. Quite some time later, early 2022, I bought the standard 12yo for a tasting I organized for my colleagues, and was so smitten by it that I now consider it to be one of the best affordable malts out there.

In 2023 it just so happened that we stopped over at Deanston distillery on our way back from Islay (but we didn’t do a tour). I had the chance to pick up some samples there—in particular a sample of new make—and I brought a 23yo sample (typo-ed as ‘Deaston’) back from the Ardnahoe bar on Islay. Today I’ll be trying both samples with the question in mind: can one identify the distillery spirit character even after a lengthy cask maturation?

Time in an oak cask literally transforms new make spirit to whisky. It’s an uncontroversial statement that the type and quality of cask influences the flavour of the whisky more than any other individual factor. In fact, it’s not uncommon for some first-fill casks with ex-contents such as PX sherry to completely swamp out the distillery signature unless it is particularly robust. Today’s whisky sample was matured in a refill hogshead (certainly ex-bourbon, although not stated), i.e. a cask that has already been used twice for Scotch whisky before (not counting the initial Bourbon’s rest in the fresh cask) and can therefore be expected to impose itself more softy on the spirit—ideal for today’s test.

Let’s first try the new make. Neat, it smells… new make-y. Malt new make generally has a distinctive, honied fragrance. This Deanston spirit is quite earthy and surprisingly salty in taste, nutty and, ah, fried calamari? Let’s bring the abv down to below 50% with water. My impression isn’t vastly altered and the main takeaway is that the spirit is robust and cerealy (the odd connection to seafood goes via salt and beer-battering).

With this reference let’s have some actual whisky:

So, can I connect the dots, or drops, as it were? Not at the level of specific tasting notes, but there is a robust, malty base to the spirit that is apparent in both the new make and the aged whisky (also found in this earlier review of a 13yo). Perhaps, given new make from a few different distilleries, I’d be able to match it with the Deanston whisky, but don’t quote me on that. In any case, it is always fun every once in a while to have some new make just to appreciate the importance of a good cask maturation.