Whisky Discovery #296

Deanston 19 Year Old Single Cask Master of Malt (53.4% abv D:16/12/1992)

Highland Single Cask Single Malt Whisky

£59.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

So next up in the selection from Master of Malts Single Cask range is this Deanston 19 Year Old. Now I know very little about Deanston, it's certainly not one you ordinarily come across in the supermarkets and I certainly haven't seen it at any of the whisky shows we went to last year. I remember seeing a Deanston 12 Year Old in Marks and Spencer once and initially thought it was one of their own brands, so had to delve into my latest copy of Malt Whisky Yearbook to find out a little more while tasting this.

Deanston is located eight miles from Stirling near Doune and just forty-five minutes from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the distillery sits by the River Teith at the entrance to the dramatic Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Having been a cotton mill for 180 years, Deanston was transformed into a distillery in 1965 and has been distilling whisky using traditional methods ever since.

In terms of capacity it is a little larger than Talisker, a distillery that most whisky lovers will have come across on their travels so I was a little surprised not have heard that much about it. I remember reading that a visitor centre was opened last year, but apart from that very little.

The distillery, being once a mill, was located next to a river to make use of the water to power all ofthe weaving equipment. The wheels have since been replaced with turbines and Deanston is the only distillery that is self-sufficient for it's electrical requirements, generating all it's own power requirements

This 19 year old was distilled on 16th December 1992 and was bottled almost 20 years later on 20th November 2012. Just 260 bottles were filled at 53.4% abv and just for the record is naturally coloured and non-chill filtered

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: Peppermint cream chocolate followed by spearmint with a little fresh-ground coffee and cocoa powder for richness on the nose.

Palate: Peppermint on the first sip, but oaky vanilla and firm malt are the main characters which play off one another with exceptional balance. Beyond this there are elegant notes of exotic spice, kiwi fruit and double cream.

Finish: The finish is incredibly long with notes of Bourbon cask spice, rich toffee and rhubarb crumble in equal quantities.

Overall: This Deanston is a minty dram with a chocolatey richness and subtle notes of juicy fruits beneath this. A grand showing from this Highland single malt.

So What Did We Think?

I had a definite chocolatey note on the nose of this one but wasn't able to find a definitive minty note - I had to go back to this after reading Master of Malts notes and hence drank the 'share' I was saving fro Kat (sorry Kat) Perhaps I'm still struggling with the after effects of New Year manflu and my senses have been dulled? It does come across as gloriously malty and after a while some rich dark fruits come forth, dark plums and black cherry, and was starting to become a Black Forest Gateaux with the chocolate and cherry.

It had a rich and creamy mouth feel, again very malty with building spice. There are some old wood furniture notes with polish too. Overall very enjoyable for my first taste from the Deanston Distillery

Want one? You'd better be quick as there were only 260 bottles of this. For more information and to buy see Master of Malt 19 Year Old Deanston