The guys from The Single Cask seem to be on their way to becoming a bigger and bigger bottler. In The Netherlands they’re still a bit rare, but with their presence at Maltstock and a slowly increasing number of retailers, it’s moving in the right direction.

Back when Master of Malt still shipped to The Netherlands, I managed to get my hands on a Tennessee Whisky, and a Glenrothes. The first one is still waiting to be reviewed (which is saying something too) and the other one was really epic.

This one was bottled for last year’s Whisky Tasting Festival, or WTF, in Utrecht. A Deanston from a refill cask, which I think is good since Deanston tends to be too cask driven for me to really stand out.

I’m still hoping to visit the distillery, and have been in the vicinity several times, but not with either time or ability to visit the place. Maybe this year?

Sniff:
There’s a lot of barley and oak on the nose. There sherry is present, but there’s not a lot of it. I find notes of peach, dried apples, oak shavings, fresh barley.

Sip:
The palate is surprisingly sweet, although it’s not without bite. Very dry, with more apricots than peaches. A lot of peppery heat, oak and dry barley notes.

Swallow:
The finish mellows a bit, but not all the way. The fruity side of things stay, with a lot more focus on that than on the barley. Quite oak driven, with some barley notes but not a lot of spirit.

Once more, Deanston gives a lot of room to the cask. It’s a good cask, with lots of nice flavors and aromas, but there’s barely any spirit left. The typical ‘blank canvas’ that I find so typical for Deanston.

I had a 10cl sample of this one, of which I had one glass now. I guess the rest won’t be emptied for a while… By this I don’t mean it’s a bad whisky, but it’s just a bit generic. If you want a fruity, sherried whisky, this is something to go for (as is most Deanston from sherry casks), but you can go for a dozen other ones too.

86/100