Deanston 12 Years Old 2012 Cask #373/2012 (The Old Friends)

This Deanston was bottled by the bottler The Old Friends, a 12 year old, distilled in 2012, from cask 373/2012, bottled at 56%, one of 283 bottles. Deanston is a waxy, honeyed Highland malt made in a former mill on the banks of the Teith. The site was the Adelphi cotton mill, built in 1785 by Sir Richard Arkwright and turned to whisky in 1965.

It was distilled from unpeated Scottish barley in bulbous copper stills, the long ferment building a fruity, estery character. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working slowly into the waxy malt. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the waxy, honeyed spirit growing rounder. Unchillfiltered and at natural colour, it keeps the full waxy body in the glass. Its old weaving shed, once full of looms, is now a cool stone warehouse for the casks. Its wash is fermented long, for a fruity, estery character.

At 56%, undiluted, it is deep and honeyed. Apple, pear and a soft honey, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is soft and waxy, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The finish is long, waxy and gently spiced. This is a waxy, honeyed Highland single malt.