Deanston 18 Year

Nose: deep honey and fresh ripe apples and pears with hint of light caramel. Strong citrus notes of a variety of fruits (yuzu, grapefruit, lemon). Malty fruit cake with a hint of raisin. Light zing of a fresh wooded vine. Taste: Heavy malt and sherry upfront with a strong woody backbone. Light floral notes with honey and vanilla. Water is almost required as it solidifies the nose into sweet citrus notes. The taste turns into mild oak and honey with citrus and sharp sherry collapsing into strong floral notes.

Note - I'm doing the Really Good Whisky Company Advent Calendar. I've also decided to pour these whiskeys "blind" (or at least as blind as I can), then providing nose, palate, and finish notes. I'll then look at the label, proof, cask type, etc. before writing my other notes. I'll be providing some guesses around things like proof and cask type and then seeing how much I missed the mark. Slàinte Mhath! Nose: Classic malt character. Floral, citric. Some tea also intertwined. Honey and toasted grain. Subtle herbal qualities. Is this a Highland? Almost getting lemon-lime soda vibes. Not getting a strong new make funk here - at the top end of around 10-15 years maybe? Ex-bourbon casks? Maybe some virgin oak as well? Just catching a thread of sweet vanilla and super-ripe apricots. Not getting any grain whisky here so guessing single malt. Overall, bright character on the nose. Almost prickly. Around 50% ABV? Palate will help nail this down. Palate: Bitey - there's definitely new oak in here, or re-charred. Or maybe there's just good age on this. Lemon pepper. Herbal, honeyed. Dashes of vanilla, char, and cocoa powder. Black licorice and pineapple. Some tannic structure, but this is very bright and shiny overall without much foundational sweetness to hold everything else up. Feels a little unbalanced. Light mouthfeel. Finish: Ethanol, oak, and bite. Menthol, cocoa, and dusty leather. Lemon oils get spritzed over everything, followed by some bitterness. Finish ends with white pepper, mint, menthol, and oak. Long. Other notes: I kept questioning if I was getting barrel bite or high abv and I'm glad I was leaning into the oak angle. For being so aged, however, I'm surprised by how "young" this presents. Not necessarily in a bad way, just with a lot more brightness and fight than I would've expected. I was off on ABV (though not by much!), under on age (too much of a range), and I'm not giving myself the cask type either. I did get region and mash. Not bad for tonight - especially since I'm feeling a little under the weather! This one is... interesting. It's goiod - the lack of balance isn't a bad thing in this case. This just doesn't fit within my normal profile. Still a fun one to explore, especially given how that 18 years presents here. Not bad. Cheers!

Honestly presented at 46.3% ABV, non-chill-filtered, with no coloring added. Color is gold, and the viscosity is medium to high. Nose is delicate, almost shy, with hints of pepper, vanilla, and barley. The arrival is sharp, rich, almost a bit too concentrated. More pepper, citrus, chocolate, and raisins on the palate, and the finish is a bit bitter and drying, probably the consequence of decent ABV. A half teaspoon of water brings this to life. It is now rich with fruit (banana and orange perhaps, along with raisins), chocolate, and nuts. The finish is still bitter, although now with more honey and citrus notes. Some more water, but the character remains the same. The finish gains faint smokiness I remember liking in the 12-year-old. Overall, this is a solid, complex, and honestly presented dram, but in my opinion it underdelivers compared with its 12-year-old cousin. When compared side by side, I actually pick the 12-year-old instead of the 18. There’s more going on, it’s more interesting, and the flavor profile is more complex despite younger age. The 18-year needs more water and time to show its character, but even then I still prefer the 12. Would I buy this again for $125 compared with the $53 for the 12-year-old? At more than 2-fold price difference, I doubt it.

Nose: very aromatic and full, bright and juicy. It has nuts, sweetened herbal fruit tea, buttered shortbread, bright grains, milk chocolate, cooked plums. It is very clean and honest while also being intense and deep. Palate: dry and spicy in the beginning, then herbs again, pineapple, raisin Finish: hot, dry and fresh wood, then slightly bitter, cucumber peel (weird), further in a strong burned wood / charred mouth coat I don’t know. It feels kinda unfinished. Still nice though. The nose I like the most. But the taste also has quite a strong alcohol burn which is a bid off-putting. Generally not smooth at all. But as mentioned very honest and saturated.