Deanston Dragon’s Milk

A Deanston, a distillery bottling, at 50.5%. Deanston is a Highland single malt, unchillfiltered and made from Scottish barley near Stirling. The site was the Adelphi cotton mill, built in 1785 by Sir Richard Arkwright and turned to whisky in 1965.

The spirit was distilled from unpeated Scottish barley in bulbous copper stills, the long ferment building a fruity, estery character. It was matured in a Stout cask, the wood working slowly into the waxy malt. With no age statement, the oak has given vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over the waxy, fruity spirit. The clean, fruity spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey to the fore. Its wash is fermented long, for a fruity, estery character. Maturing in the vaulted stone warehouse, the spirit develops slow and steady. It was mothballed in 1982 and revived in 1990 under Burn Stewart.

At its natural 50.5% it is concentrated. A fruity, waxy sweetness, with a dark, roasted, chocolate note from the cask. Beneath it run green apple, pear and a soft honey. The finish is rounded, honeyed and gently spiced. This is Deanston, the mill turned distillery on the Teith.