The first spirit was distilled in October 1966 and in 1971 the very first whisky
became available under the name 'Old Bannockburn'. Deanston was sold to
Invergordon Distillers in 1972 who released the first single malt under the
'Deanston' name a few years later. The distillery itself fell silent in 1982 and
remained closed until 1990, when Burn Stewart & Co plc. purchased Deanston.
They later went on to buy Tobermory (in 1993) and Bunnahabhain (in 2003).

The Deanston distillery, located in Perthshire in the Midlands (also known as
the Southern Highlands) is one of the most recently constructed distilleries in
Scotland. In fact, I could argue that it wasn't really 'constructed' at all. In 1965
and 1966 Deanston was converted from a cotton mill (built in 1785) by the
Deanston Distillery Co Ltd. - a subsidiary of James Finlay & Co Ltd.

Let's see, what else is there to tell about Deanston?
Not that much, apparently... The single malt itself is relatively hard to find (well, at
least here in Holland) and based on my research in the 1990's I would have said
that it hardly seemed worth hunting down. However, maybe my preferences have
changed - or maybe I've found a new appreciation for the unique ' farmy' traits of
Deanston. Batches of some OB's released in the third millennium were certainly
interesting... Nevertheless, I imagine most of the malt distilled at Deanston is
used in Burn Stewart's blends anyway. Yes it is; I just checked the Malt Whisky
Yearbook and it says that only 15% of the single malt whisky that is distilled at
Deaston is bottled as such; the rest goes into blends like Scottish Leader and
Black Bottle. Well - maybe not the Black Bottle - I'll have to check my sources...

True to the ongoing 'concentration' trend in the whisky world, Burn Stewart was aquired by Angostura International Ltd., producers of bitters and rum - and themselves a subsidiary of the investment company C L Financial Ltd. from Trinidad & Tobago). The new owners bought an 18% share in Burn Stewart in 1999 and acquired the remaining shares in 2002.

Other products containing Deanston malt whisky are Wallace Single Malt Liqueur and Drumgray Highland Cream Liqueur. The official (international) range of Deanston consists of a 12yo and a 17yo expression but in France a 6yo version is available as well. It seems independent bottlings of Deanston are quite rare too. Cadenhead's apparently obtained quite a few casks from 1997, but these are the proverbial exceptions to the rule - I can't find many other recent IB's on the Malt Maniacs Matrix.

With a total production capacity of 3,000,000 litres of pure alcohol per year Deanston is Burn Stewart's 'powerhouse' distillery - exceeding Bunnahabhain's 2,500,000 and Tobermory's mere 1,000,000 litres. Capacity-wise, Deanstan was #27 on the list of all Scottish distilleries in 2005.

1) Deanston was converted from a weavery, constructed in 1785.

2) After the conversion Deanston became the only distillery in Scotland that's completely self-sustaining as far as electricity is concerned. Water from the river Teith drives a turbine that powers Deanston. As an armchair eco-warrior I'm very eager to give Deanston another chance - please put all that eco-power to good use!

3) A 30yo official bottling released in 2006 contains only malt whiskies distilled before the closure in 1982.

Here are my notes on some 'core range' OB's, followed by a selection of my personal favorites.
Interestingly enough, all of these independent bottlings were bottled by Cadenhead's.

Deanston 12yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999, 70cl)
Nose: A little sweet and oily, with a hint of chloride. Quite pleasant at first, but the bouquet vanishes quickly.
Taste: A bit disappointing. Nutty (hazelnuts/almonds) after a while.
Clean, with a malty finish, becoming very bitter with water.
Score: 57 points - which equals a sub-standard malt whisky in my book.

Deanston 12yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2006)
Nose: Smooth and sweet. Apples? Grows farmier and metallic over time.
Not bad at all. It's still a little 'weird' and farmy, but that definitely sets it apart.
Taste: Phew! Very bitter - astringent like aspirin. Harsh. I have to say this pulls down the score.
Score: 76 points - which makes it one of the highest scoring Deanston OB's I've tried so far.

Deanston 17yo (40%, OB, 70cl, Short, fat bottle, 7156 97/0331 L16 15:53, Bottled 1990's?)
Nose: Strong & sweet at first, malty & spirity later on. Veggy whiffs. Intruiging suggestion of fruit.
Taste: Not very sweet. A bit of mint and menthol. Fairly MOTR with little distinguishing elements.
More pine and resin after I added some water. Falls apart. Unpleasant bitter twang in the finish.
Score: 68 points - much better than my 57 points for the 12yo from the late 1990's but nothing to boast about.

Deanston 18yo 1977/1996 (54.7%, Cadenhead's, Distilled November 1977, Bottled January 1996)
Nose: Strong late summer fruits. None of the usual 'farmy' notes that I get in Deanston. At least...
There is some dust and rotting milk powder far in the background. More cask than country...
Taste: Very hot - I needed to add some water right away. With a few drops it really opens up.
Still powerful at slightly below 50%, but much better. Excellent mouth feel with smoke in the finish.
Score: 87 points - which makes it my new favourite Deanston expression, beating the Deanston NAS (40%, OB, "100% Highland", Late 1970's) at 83 points, Deanston 25yo (40%, OB, Burn Stewart, Decanter with silver cork, Bottled +/-2000) at 82 points and Deanston 25yo 1977/2003 (50.3%, Cadenhead's, Bourbon HH, 198 Bts.) at 81 points. All other expressions I've tried scored below 80 points.

Deanston 21yo 1977/1999 (53,5%, Cadenhead's, Bottled July 1999)
Nose: Sampled at Whiskyfestival Noord Nederland 2006 in Groningen; no notes.
Nose: Sampled at Whiskyfestival Noord Nederland 2006 in Groningen; no notes.
Score: 78 points - but I should add that it's one of my least 'solid' scores ever.

Deanston 25yo 1977/2003 (50.3%, Cadenhead's, Bourbon Hogshead, 198 Bottles)
Nose: Light and surprisingly sweet. Grassy. Salmiak. Melon. A well defined nose.
Taste: A tad tired. Malty with a hint of eucalyptus or menthol. No sweetness.
Score: 81 points - once again this IB is much better than the OB's. Could Deanston be another example of a distillery that doesn't live up to its potential due to careless cask management or lack of interest in small series?

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Deanston I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the list wouldn't fit on two seperate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most malts I've sampled and scored - but finding notes on a specific expression could be tricky. You might want to use the search box at the top of this page for that. The mAlmanac now contains personal selections of the best and the worst single malts I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.