Deanston Distillery is among the more overlooked scotch whisky distilleries, having never gone through an era of being a branded star. That’s partly because it’s relatively young, having launched in 1966. Deanston’s whiskies are well-regarded, with many scoring above 90 points. Deanston has generally pursued a fairly straightforward approach to whisky making and is not known for bold experimentation, with its signature innovation being the well-received Virgin Oak Finished expressions. But late last year it released a 15 year old tequila cask finished expression, its first-ever attempt at the genre, and it’s a winner.
Deanston 15 year old Tequila Cask Finish was aged in oak hogsheads for 13 years before spending an additional 2 years in tequila casks which lent their influence. A fresh, fragrant nose greets you with lime, honey, vanilla, green banana, and a hint of barrel char. The palate is smooth and filled with balanced sweetness, offering notes of key lime pie, more fresh lime, and flavorful oak, and a long finish with more of the same. It’s a pleasant battle between the first barrel's vanilla charms and the tequila cask's sweet lime influence. Deanston called it an “experimental, limited release,” we’re happy to report the experiment was a complete success, scoring 94 points with our tasting panel.
One slight problem is the eye-popping price of $250, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of this whisky maker: If anything, its whiskies have been known for being relatively affordable, certainly for the core 12 year old, Virgin Oak, and 18 year old expressions.
Tequila cask-finished scotch whiskies are still a relative rarity. Lagavulin released a tequila cask-finished 12 year old as part of its 2023 Diageo Special Releases collection, while Chivas Regal launched its 13 year old Chivas Extra 13 Year Old Tequila Cask back 2020, and Kilchoman tried it. Still, examples have been few and far between. But we expect to see more of them in the future as the genre evolves.
