Last week we completed reviewing the new Royal Brackla line-up and now it’s time to tackle yet another distillery that went through a big change as part of Bacardi “Last Great Malts” series, Glen Deveron whisky which is actually distilled at Macduff distillery (No, there’s no Glen Deveron distillery).

The official line-up from Macduff was previously known as Glen Deveron and upon the re-launch on September 2015 it was rebranded as The Deveron. But it wasn’t only a re-branding, the whisky changed too as the old Glen Deveron expressions were ditched and instead we get a new line-up with three standard expressions (10, 12 and 18) and one premium expression aged 25 year old.

The initial launch included the 12 and 18 year old so naturally we starts with the 12 year old and later we’ll review the 18 year old as well.

The Deveron 12 (Macduff Distillery) (40%, £34/€47.50)

Nose: Creamy, big mix of soft golden and green apples, honey, nuts (natural cashews), half-squeezed green grapes, a bit of salt and limestone dust. Despite having a low ABV it feels more solid than the Roayal Brackla lineup which was bottled at the same ABV.

Palate: Starts with a bucket load of green apples, not so creamy and soft, nutty, honey and toffee, oak wood spices, dash of white pepper, second half is very mineral with salt (briney edge) and limestone.

Finish: Medium-short fiinish. Very mineral, dry, oak wood spices and traces of honey.

Thoughts: The Deveron 12 Year Old won’t rock your boat. It’s gentle and nice, works well despite bottled at only 40%. However, for me it’s not on-par with the  entry levels from Aultmore and Craigellachie which I liked, but I believe Bacardi targeted this line up at different audience which looks for smoother and simpler profile as a competition to the entry levels from Glenfidich, Glenlivet and others. I have to say that in this case they nailed it.