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3rd Party Tasting Notes
Nose: Honey, caramel, sweet malt and red wine with hints of citrus and spice.
Palate: Toffee, honey, malt and rich sweet grapes, with notes of chilli-infused dark chocolate.
Finish: Lingering fruity sweetness and subtle spice.
Palate: Toffee, honey, malt and rich sweet grapes, with notes of chilli-infused dark chocolate.
Finish: Lingering fruity sweetness and subtle spice.
Deanston
The folks at Deanston in Scotland's Highland country are on to something! Classic highland malt whisky aged for 9 years in former red Bordeaux casks? Of course! This one-of-a-kind gem shows just the right influence from the casks in the form stewed plum, raspberry, and mocha on the nose. The palate then leads with flavors of candied Black Forest cherries, coffee, and butterscotch, and finishes with an uplifting snap of ginger spice. There's something for everyone in this unconventional, undeniably intriguing dram!
K&L Wine Merchants
The Distillery: Deanston
| Established: 1966 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: United Kingdom |
| → website |
The Deanston distillery, located in Perthshire in the Midlands (also known as the Southern Highlands) is one of the most recently constructed distilleries in Scotland. In fact, I could argue that Deanston wasn't really 'constructed' at all. In 1965 and 1966 Deanston was converted from a cotton mill (built in 1785) by the Deanston Distillery Co Ltd. - a subsidiary of James Finlay & Co Ltd.<>The first spirit was distilled in October 1966 and in 1971 the very 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 & Co plc. purchased Deanston. They 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 the investment company C L Financial Ltd. from Trinidad & Tobago). The new owners bought an 18% share in Burn Stewart in 1999 and acquired the remaining shares in 2002. <>Let's see, what else is there to tell about Deanston? Not that much, apparently...<>Single malt whisky itself is relatively hard to find (well, at least here in Holland). Based on my research in the 1990's I'd have said that it hardly seemed worth hunting down. <>However, maybe my preferences have changed - or maybe I've found a new appreciation for the unique 'farmy' traits of Deanston. Batches of some official bottlings released in the third millennium were most certainly interesting... Nevertheless, I imagine most of the malt whisky distilled at Deanston is used in Burn Stewart's blends anyway. Yes it is; I just checked the Malt Whisky Yearbook and it says that only 15% of the malt whisky that is distilled at Deaston is bottled as such; the rest goes into generic blended whiskies like Scottish Leader and Black Bottle. Well - maybe not the Black Bottle - I'll have to check my sources...<>Other products containing Deanston malt whisky are Wallace Single Malt Liqueur and Drumgray Highland Cream Liqueur. The official (international) range of Deanston consists of 12yo and 17yo expressions but in France a 6yo version is available as well. <>It seems independent bottlings of Deanston are relatively rare too, at least if we look at the MMMonitor. There have been no more than two dozen... <>Cadenhead's and Signatory Vintage are the independent bottlers that have released the most independent bottlings of Deanston malt whisky. Other bottlers like Douglas Laing and The Whisky Shop have also released the occasional bottling, but they are the proverbial exceptions to the rule. <>Deanston may not be one of the big brands, but with a production capacity of 3,000,000 litres of pure alcohol per year, it's Burn Stewart's 'powerhouse' distillery. The production capacity exceeds Bunnahabhain's 2,500,000 and Tobermory's 1,000,000 litres of whisky. Capacity-wise, Deanston distillery ranked #27 on the list of all Scotch malt whisky distilleries in 2005. <>
- In The New Millenium:
- 2002 - CL Financial buys the remaining shares in Burn Stewart, after already acquiring part of the company in 1999. So, that makes them the owners of the Deanston distillery as well.
- 06 - A thirty years old official bottling of the Deanston single malt Scotch whisky is released.
- 09 - A new packaging is released for the official bottling of Deanston 12 years old whisky.
- 11 - In a press release of early March 2011, the Scotch Whisky Association makes a big deal about their green credentials because they "encourage" distillers and whisky drinkers to turn off the power for an hour on March 26. Unfortunately, I'm too bad at mathematics to figure out exactly how much hot air the average pot still produces in a single day (not to mention the amount of hot air that is produced by the PR people of the SWA), but looking at the large number of distilleries that have gone from five or six production days per week to seven in recent years, I think that it's safe to classify this appeal as largely symbolic. In sharp contrast to the SWA, Deanston puts its money where its mouth is. The Deanston whisky distillery is completely self sustaining w.r.t. electricity, so it actually IS green.
Trivia:
- The Deanston distillery was converted from a weavery, constructed in 1785.
- Did you know that it takes almost a litre of oil to produce a litre of (regular) whisky? After the conversion Deanston became the only whisky 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. The distillery even sells the surplus energy to the national electricity grid. As you can see in my tasting notes not all bottlings of Deanston impressed me very much, but as an armchair eco-warrior I'm very eager to give Deanston another chance; I sincerely hope they put all that eco-power to good use!
- A 30yo official bottling of Deanston that was released in 2006 contains only malt whiskies that were distilled before the (temporary) closure of Deanston in 1982.
- The Deanston single malt is an important component of the 'Scottish Leader' blended whisky.
- Capacity-wise, the Burn Stewart group ranked #10 among the whisky producers in Scotland in 2010.
from Malt Madness
The Owner: Burn Stewart Distillers
| Established: 1988 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: 8 Milton Road, College Milton North, East Kilbride G74 5BU, Scotland, UK |
| → website |
The three distilleries owned by Burn Stewart are Deanston in Doune, Perthshire (acquired in 1990), Bunnahabhain on Islay (acquired in 2003) and Tobermory on Mull (acquired in 1993).
Brands include Deanston Single Malt, Scottish Leader Blended Scotch, Bunnahabhain Single Malt, Black Bottle Blended Scotch, Tobermory, Ledaig and Iona Single Malts.
Burn Stewart Distillers Ltd is a Scotch whisky producer and brand owner with three single malt whisky distilleries and a portfolio of Scotch whisky brands.
from Wikipedia, Burn Stewart, others
The Owner: CL Financial
| Established: 1993 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: 41 - 43 St. Vincent Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies |
| → website |
In a Trinidad Guardian press release on January 30 2009, it was announced that the TT Government will "bail out" CL Financial, the parent company of Clico, Angostura and several other local and regional businesses.
As far as booze is concerned CL Financial owns amongst others Angostura Bitters, produces some Carribean Rum and owns through a subsidiary the whisky distilleries of Deanston, Bunnahabhain and Tobermory.
CL Financial started out as a holding company for Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited (Clico) in 1993.
CL Financial has holdings in numerous business categories including banking and financial services, energy and petrochemicals, forestry and agriculture, general insurance, life insurance, manufacturing, retail and distribution, marine services, media and communications, medical services, real estate development and others.
CL Financial is the largest privately held conglomerate in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest privately held corporations in the entire Caribbean. Founded as an insurance company, Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) by Cyril Duprey, it was expanded into a diversified company by his nephew, Lawrence Duprey. CL Financial is now one of the largest local conglomerates in the region, encompassing over 65 companies in 32 countries worldwide with total assets standing at roughly TT$100 billion.
from Wikipedia et al