Even though I didn’t go to the WTF I got a bottle of this. Mostly because Thijs was very enthusiastic about it. Of course, that went straight into a bottle-share, since I simply can’t keep everything for myself for a variety of reasons (space, money, having only one liver, not necessarily in that order).

When I emptied my share yesterday, I wanted to check whether or not I had already written tasting notes, since things have been a bit chaotic at home recently. Because of that I found out that WTF has already bottled a Deanston as their festival bottling in 2021. Back then it didn’t impress me too much, mostly because of the problem Deanston often has: It lacks a bit of character. It’s a blind canvas on which the cask has full reign. This one, supposedly, is different.

Let’s find out!

Sniff:
There’s a lot of fruit and barley on the nose. Some wood spices as well as oak. Dried apple, pound cake with no vanilla. A bit of mango and apricot jam too.

Sip:
The palate brings a little bit of heat. Some chilis, sawdust, apricot stones. Quite a bitter note if you let it sit for a while. Apple cores, pear skin.

Swallow:
The finish is more dry than the palate. After that the sweeter pastry notes and clean oak come through.

This is quite lovely indeed! There’s a lot of fruitiness that is well balanced with oak and barley notes. It seems this one had significantly more character when going in the cask than the earlier release had. Or maybe the cask wasn’t as active. Either way, it makes for a very good whisky for a very decent price!

88/100

Currently available at Whiskybase for € 75 and it’s well worth that amount!