Requested By
ContemplativeFox
Deanston 19 (1994) (Cadenhead's Small Batch)
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ContemplativeFox
Reviewed April 4, 2022 (edited April 6, 2022)Rating: 15/23 Woo! Another milestone! Time to open another milestone bottle! N: Oh, that is quite light. I'm definitely getting ethanol. There's a little oil, but it's also kind of thin. Some faint apple. Honestly, it's a lot of the alcohol smell. I am getting a growing funkiness though. A bit of meat mixed with some sort of funk from the stills. The faintest malt. I'm getting some kind of Dewar's 15 vibes from this. P: This is much fuller and more interesting than the nose suggested. Tons of wax mixed with apples and some vanilla. Some kind of rich oil too. It's almost like a weird variation on an apple pie that leaves out the spices. It's pretty good, but wow does it burn. Oh, some spices do start coming out. Ginger, cinnamon, clove. There's also something a bit funky here. Some malt that's kind of like slightly undercooked caramel. I'm sure glad this has such a high proof because otherwise it would be way too lightly flavored. Actually, adding some water brings out a lot more spices. This really improves the dram! I didn't expect this. It's not at all watery. I get a lot more cinnamon, with some allspice, ginger, and clove. Perhaps a dash of nutmeg. Also, some green banana that reminds me a tad of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof. It's really hard to stress just how much that water improves this dram. The ethanol is massively reduced as well. This has gone from youthful and fine to fairly decadent. The water brings out a bit more funky complexity too. It tastes a little bit dirty, but not too much. There's a lot more grain to it, like a field at harvest time. A little toast. It's a nice extra layer of complexity. Oh, and there's tons of wax now. It's reminding me a heck of a lot of Clynelish and a little of Loch Lomond. This is a great example of why cask strength is not always the best. As I adjust the water, I get light melon at points and a bit of milk at others. I've also managed to detect honey, coconut milk, lemongrass, and some mild herbal flavors. I suppose I could say that there's a lot of depth to be found here. F: Without any water added, there's a big lingering burn with sort of a clover honey malt, some grass, almost a faint smokiness, numbing clove, faint dirty stills, and the occasional hint of cinnamon. With water added, there's more of a dirty still flavor with some wax. It's more on the bitter and funky side. - Conclusion - I'd heard that Deanston was a very light dram and that kind of is the case, aside from the waxiness. I like what I'm tasting here, but I'm certainly not loving it. Deanston is probably not a distillery I'll be looking for offerings from in the future, but if I see one for a good price, I might grab it. This actually tastes a bit youthful; I certainly wouldn't have guessed that it was older than 15 years and might have gone closer to 10. Without water, this absolutely lacks the complexity and nuance of Cadenhead's single barrel bottling of Tullibardine 25 (1993). There is some nice rich oiliness here mixed with that malty caramel sweetness, but this tastes substantially younger and burns more. With water added, this starts to compete on complexity, but it isn't nearly as mature. Even with water added, this struggles to compete with Loch Lomond 12 (16/23). I feel like there might be a sweet spot where this beats Loch Lomond 12 by a point or two, but it's so hard to get into anything resembling that range that I can't in good faith rate this based on that flavor profile, even if I do manage to bring it out. I can reliably get this close in quality to the Loch Lomond though. If it weren't for the intense burn that comes through a fair amount even with water, I might consider giving this the same rating as the Loch Lomond. I'm currently thinking of a 15 for this. That waxiness with some fruit and dirty still flavors that comes out when the water is in about the right range is really good. It's not amazing, but it's quite enjoyable. Were it not so difficult to dial the amount of water in, I'd probably go for a 16. There's no doubt that this is better than Monkey Shoulder (14/23). I think proofed down to 40% ABV, this would show less ethanol and have more interesting complexity - though it does start to be a matter of style preference at that point. Compass Box Glasgow Blend (14/23) is sweeter and more fun, but it's sweet to the point that it's a bit candy-like in comparison - like booze aimed at teenagers. It's definitely more approachable, but I prefer this. Normally, I do really like the Glasgow Blend though. I think I'm pretty set on a 15 at this point. Honestly, I feared that this would be worse than that, but I also hoped that it would be better. I've had some good luck with independent bottlings of mild distillates like Glen Grant, Tullibardine, and Auchroisk. This is apparently not that mild and it didn't quite work out as well. Still, it's interesting and it's enjoyable to drink when I'm up for a bit of a challenge.105.0 USD per Bottle
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