Out there in the world, one can find a die-hard Deanston fan here and there. One of our original whisky-tasting groups in Mumbai was one. As for me? I will fully admit to not being one of them. I tend to find Deanston a bit uninspiring, even a tad industrial in profile, and overall quite average. However, I am a fan of the independent bottler Chorlton, so when this bottle from his April 2023 release became available, I thought why not try?
When I settled on a chancy theme in January 2024 to focus on distilleries that have NOT tended to capture my fancy, it seemed the perfect opportunity to give this Deanston its due consideration. Even better, I had two sets of tasting groups try it back to back: our Bombay Malt & Cigar lads and the Mumbai Whisky Ladies! Between the two groups, and different settings, I had high hopes for a fair evaluation.
Deanston 14 year (2023) Bourbon Barrel 52.6% 610 Bottles
- Colour: Bright gold
- Nose:
- Day 1: Lemony, soap water, cashew nuts, Marie Claire digestive biscuits, some sweetness, joined by sawdust, and was that a bit of apricot fruit leather? Or mango papad? Vascilates between being slightly tangy and slightly sweet.
- Day 2: Completely missed some of the initial elements – no citrus at all. Instead, there were bananas and peach pie, and we still found the digestive biscuits. Overall, it was quite mild, with some vanilla
- Palate:
- Day 1: It began with grapefuit, water sweetened with honey, some pudding, soft and balanced, good mouthfeel
- Day 2: Much more buttery or oily than expected, and yet curiously there was a crackling chocolate, slightly metallic or fuel-like element, aniseed
- Finish: Descriptions veered from having a “thick air finish” to butter to bitter to candy
- Water: Simply muddles the combination
- Revisit after sampling other whiskies
- Day 1: None of the fruits remained though the digestive biscuits element continued
- Day 2: Furniture wax and burnt popcorn on the nose, mineral on the palate
For the lads, this was the 3rd whisky of four sampled. There was a clear division between one pronouncing it exceedingly average, begrudgingly admitting it was “not unpleasant” but overall thin on the nose with very little complexity. The others were a wee bit kinder, finding it better than some Deanston’s as it was less industrial and overall decent.
For the ladies, I opted to begin with the Deanston. It didn’t get huge converts to this distillery but was a better way to kick off our evening. What was surprising is that just a day later, all of the citrus disappeared – both the lemon on the nose and grapefruit on the palate.
What did David have to say? The following is an extract from his email…
The nose is fruity on first pouring (tangerine, pear juice, peach gummies) then settles down with hoppy ales, fresh baguette, sweet ciceley, woodruff and ferns. There are little touches of flinty minerality, lemon, rose petals, furniture wax and barley sugar. It’s very subtle and beautiful.
The palate has tinned pears, grapefruit syrup, aniseed (almost cough candy) and hops. It’s an appealing combination of barley and breadiness with clean and zesty fruitiness. It almost feels refreshing and palate-cleansing, with a lovely sweeter touch of honey and fruit syrup in the aftertaste.
This is one of those whiskies that feels very honest and close to the barley, with a sort of easy freshness and delicacy. The barrel produced 234 bottles at 52.6% and they are available for £79.50 each.
I purchased this directly from Chorlton in April 2023, which rested initially in London before being kindly brought to India in July 2023, to lie even longer for the right opportunity in Mumbai!
What else from Chorlton did we try together with the Deanston?
Despite it not being #1 in any of our books, folks voted with their glasses, where clearly there was a 2nd pour by some of the Deanston. Overall, it was the 2nd choice of the Chorlton’s tried that evening in terms of liquid consumed! Interesting.
What about other Deanston explorations?
- Chronicles Edition 1 (4 casks from 4 decades) 46.3% – By far the most interesting and enjoyable sampled til date
- Virgin Oak NAS 46.3%
- 10 year (Sep 2009 – Oct 2019) WW8 108 Bourbon Barrel 57.3% (WW8)
- 15 year (1997/2013) Cask No 1958 45.8% (TSC)
- 19 year (1999/2018) 51% (Daily Drams)
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