The first spirit was distilled in October 1966 and in 1971 the first whisky
became available under the name 'Old Bannockburn'. Deanston was sold
to Invergordon Distillers in 1972 who released the first single malt under
the 'Deanston' name a few years later. The distillery itself fell silent in
1982 and remained closed until 1990 when Burn Stewart purchased it.

The Deanston distillery, located in Perthshire in the Midlands (a.k.a. the
Southern Highlands) is one of the most recently constructed distilleries in
Scotland. In fact, I could argue that it wasn't really 'constructed' at all.
In 1965-1966 Deanston was converted from a cotton mill (AD 1785) by
the Deanston Distillery Co Ltd, a subsidiary of James Finlay & Co Ltd.

Let's see, what else is there to tell about Deanston?
Not that much, apparently... The single malt itself is relatively hard to
find (at least here in Holland) and based on my research so far I'd have
to say that it hardly seems worth hunting down. And I imagine most of
the malt distilled at Deanston is used in Burn Stewart's blends anyway.
Yes, it is - I just checked the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2006 and it says
that only 15% of the single malt whisky distilled at Deaston is bottled
as such; the rest goes into blends like Scottish Leader & Black Bottle.
Well - maybe not the Black Bottle - I'll have to check my sources...

When I write this (March 2006), I've only sampled four expressions from Deanston.
Here are the results of my research so far;

Deanston 12yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999, 70cl)
Nose: A little sweet and oily, with a hint of chloride.
Quite pleasant at first, but the bouquet vanishes quickly.
Taste: A bit disappointing. Nutty (hazelnuts/almonds) after a while.
Clean, with a malty finish, becoming very bitter with water.
Score: 57 points - which equals a sub-standard malt whisky.

Deanston 17yo (40%, OB, 70cl, Short, fat bottle, 7156 97/0331 L16 15:53, Bottled 1990's?)
Nose: Strong & sweet at first, malty & spirity later on. Veggy whiffs. Intruiging suggestion of fruit.
Taste: Not very sweet. A bit of mint and menthol. Fairly MOTR with little distinguishing elements.
More pine and resin after I added some water. Falls apart. Unpleasant bitter twang in the finish.
Score: 68 points - much better than my 57 points for the 12yo OB but nothing to boast about.

Deanston 21yo 1977/1999 (53,5%, Cadenhead's, Bottled July 1999)
Nose: Sampled at Whiskyfestival Noord Nederland 2006 in Groningen; no notes.
Nose: Sampled at Whiskyfestival Noord Nederland 2006 in Groningen; no notes.
Score: 78 points - but I should add that it's one of my least 'solid' scores ever.

Deanston 25yo 1977/2003 (50.3%, Cadenhead's, Bourbon Hogshead, 198 Bottles)
Nose: Light and surprisingly sweet. Grassy. Salmiak. Melon. A well defined nose.
Taste: A tad tired. Malty with a hint of eucalyptus or menthol. No sweetness.
Score: 81 points - once again this IB is much better than the OB's. Could Deanston be another example of a distillery that doesn't live up to its potential due to careless cask management or lack of interest in small series?

Check out my Track Record for a complete and up-to-date overview of all 'siplings' I've tried.
 
 
 

In 1990 Deanston was obtained by Burn Stewart & Co plc. who later went on to buy Tobermory (in 1993) and Bunnahabhain (in 2003). True to the ongoing 'concentration' trend in the whisky world, Burn Stewart was aquired by Angostura International Ltd., producers of bitters and rum (and themselves a subsidiary of C L Financial Ltd.).

Other products containing Deanston malt whisky are Wallace Single Malt Liqueur and Drumgray
Highland Cream Liqueur. The official (international) range of Deanston consists of a 12yo and a
17yo expression but in France a 6yo version is available as well. It seems independent bottlings
of Deanston are quite rare too. Cadenhead's apparently obtained quite a few casks from 1997,
but these are the proverbial exceptions to the rule - I can't find any recent IB's on the matrix.

Trivia about Deanston: Deanston was converted from a weavery, constructed in 1785.
After the conversion Deanston became the only distillery in Scotland that's completely self-sustaining as far as electricity is concerned. Water from the river Teith drives a turbine that powers Deanston. As an armchair eco-warrior I'm very eager to give Deanston another chance - please put all that eco-power to good use!

With a total production capacity of 3,000,000 litres of pure alcohol per year Deanston is Burn
Stewart's 'powerhouse' distillery - exceeding Bunnahabhain's 2,500,000 and Tobermory's mere
1,000,000 litres. Capacity-wise, Deanstan was #27 on the list of all Scottish distilleries in 2005.