Deanston distillery is the lesser known member in Distell distilleries portfolio and also the most underrated one. But in the the last few years, Distell has released a few Deanston limited editions that made some waves and raised the wareness of the distillery products in whisky drinkers minds.

This year, Distill has includes no less than three different Deanston offerings in their Distell 2019 collection and of course we’ll check them all this week here on Whisky Gospel.

The first one up is the younger offering: Deanston from 2006 with 12 Year Old age statement that was finished in Fino sherry casks.

It’s the first time Fino sherry has been used in Deanston – senior blender Dr. Kirstie McCallum decided to take deanston malt that laid in bourbon casks for 9 and a half years and finish  it for two and a half years in Fino sherry casks.

It was bottled at 55% and it’s not clear how many bottles are out there – I’ve seen conflicting numbers of 1608 bottles and 268 bottles (maybe the latter is UK market share?), either way – not too many of those out there…

Deanston 2006 12 Year Old Fino Cask Finish (55%, £64.95/€84.95)

Nose: Malty and sweet grapes a la muscat, almonds croissant, nutty, nutmeg, sultanas, very soft, hint of pepper, soft and silky.

Palate: Spicy, white pepper, almonds, nutmeg and oak spice. Cereals, green grapes skins, honey and sultanas, very creamy and rich.

Finish: Medium length, lingering oak spice and nuts, honey and sultanas.

Thoughts: Very tasty. It’s not a breathtaking dram but it’s really well constructed and pleasant. The honey and malt features (of the distillery) meshes well here with the Fino cask impact of nuts, spice and sultanas. Rock solid offering and if you want one, you should hurry up because 268 (or 1608) bottles will fly off the shelves real fast.