One more Deanston from Distell 2019 collection and this time it’s the 1997 vintage 21 Year Old finished in Palo Cortado casks.

The whisky was distilled and filled into bourbon casks on November 1997 where it matured for over 18 years and then it was finished in the Palo Cortado sherry hogsheads since April 2016 (so finished for over 2 years).

1663 (or maybe it’s 280?) bottles were made, bottled at 51.8%.

Last year Distell released Palo Cortado finished Bunnahabhain which was excellent and I assume those Palo Cortado casks here are from the same cask parcel so I have high expectations!

Deanston 1997 21 Year Old Palo Cortado Cask Finish (51.8%, £150/€237,99)

Nose: Lovely depth of notes. There’s earthy side here with dried fruits, and Portobello mushrooms, dark chocolate, sherry vinegar, dark cherries, a few specks of nutmeg and cinnamon and eventually the Deanston honey and cereals shows up through the cracks of the sherry casks notes. Continue reading →

The second Deanston in Distell 2019 Collection is a 2002 vintage aged for 16 years. It spent 14 years in re-charred ex-bourbon casks on (filled on 18th December 2002), then transferred into organic Oloroso casks (supplied by Robles, the only fully organic sherry producer) on 5th May 2016 for additional 2 years or so.

Total of 528 (or 3492) bottles were made for this limited edition.

Deanston 2002 16 Year Old Organic Oloroso Cask Finish (50.6%, €113.99)

Nose: Soft, strong malt and cereals notes, with bread dough and croissant, honey. Then sweet red dried berries, cinnamon and nutmeg, chocolate, creamy and soft. The sherry impact isn’t overpowering here but the balance between the notes is exquisite. Continue reading →

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. Continue reading →

Back to reviewing the new limited editions for 2018 from Distell distilleries and after reviewing earlier today the Deanston limited edition for 2017, we’ll now focus on the 2018 edition, the Deanston 2008 Brandy Cask Finish.

Like its predecessor, it’s a 2008 vintage matured for almost 8 years in ex-bourbon casks and then trasferred to Brandy casks for two years before being bottled at 56.4%. No official bottles count was released but availability seems somewhat limited comparing to the Bordeaux from 2017.

Deanston 2008 Brandy Cask Finish (56.4%, £54.95/€66,99)

Nose: Oh this is a sweet one. The Brandy impact is there with sweet white wine, grapes, nuts and sultanas. subtle pepper, vanilla, bread-y and creamy. With a few drops of water it’s spicier and the bread-y note turns to multi-cereals health bread. Continue reading →

Taking a very short breather from Distell limited releases 2018 collection because the next review should be the Deanston 2008 Brandy Cask Finish but it seems like I forgot to publish my review for the 2017 limited release, and since they are both 2008 vintage, why not start with the Bordeaux from 2017 and then we can resume the regular programming and the Brandy from 2018?

As I said, the 2017 limited edition for Deanson was a 2008 vintage that was fully matured in Bordeaux red wine casks. It was quite a big release with 3,240 bottled at 58.7% and it’s still widely available in shops across Europe.

Personally I had hard times to like this whisky on my first tasting but thankfully I re-tasted it a few (and then a few more) weeks later and the air exposure did wonders to this whisky.

Deanston 2008 Bordeaux Red Wine Cask Matured (58.7%, £55/€44.95)

Nose: Malty, gentle red wine with soft tannins lurking behind. wood spices, It’s kind of muted and restrained at first tasting but after a while there’s some leather, spicy wine. Takes a while to settle down and upon returning to it few weeks later it improved significantly with baking spices, subtle sweet and rich red wine, dried raspberries and nuttiness.

Continue reading →

Another Deanston whisky review but this time it’s a limited edition cask strength Oloroso sherry whisky. Until now the widely available official releases have been ex-bourbon based, with special editions (such as Deanston Spanish Oak, wine casks and BYO) available at the distillery only, so it’s a good sign that Deanston embraces the sherry route for wider availability – we even got a few bottles of this in Israeli stores!

Deanston 20 Year Old (55.3%, 8400 bottles, £100/€129,50)

Nose: The creamy note is apparent here, with sweet honey and butterscotch, but slowly the sherry influence sneaks onto the stage. There’s dried fruit, fresh berries and dates. It must have been some old sherry refill as the impact isn’t too strong after 20 years. Oh, there’s vanilla too so maybe some american oak too? Continue reading →

Burns Stewart Distillers were busy last year with many new releases, from the 18yo for Deanston and Ledaig up to the 42yo Ledaig. I have found out (via Michael) that BSD official importer in Israel managed to bring a few crates of those new releases so it’s a good excuse to review some of them.

The first one on the operation table is the Deanston 18 Year Old. It was aged in hogsheads and then finished in first fill ex-bourbon casks for extra sweetness. As usual with BSD, it was bottled at the customary ABV of 46.3%

Deanston 18 Year Old (46.3%, £61.95/€107.50)

Nose: Cereals, porridge and butterscotch, sweet honey and creamy, light vanilla, hay and meadow, almost flowery (but not), hints of huge spice to come on palate with white pepper as a teaser, nutty/almonds, pears and peaches and sweet oak.

Palate: Creamy and spicy, white pepper, honey, cereals porridge, bread dough, hay and meadow, gentle oak wood spiciness, semi-dry yet maintain rich feeling

Finish: Medium length, gentle bitterness of oak with a touch of grapefruits, creamy sweet honey,

Thoughts: Surprisingly better than I expected as the sweetness from the first fill barrels finish is balanced elegantly with the oak bitterness. The bottle price in UK is very reasonable and would recommend one for that price but the price in Europe and in Israel (around 110 Euro) is too high. Too bad.