Owned by the Burn Stewart Distillers group, Deanston was one of the few distilleries built in the 20th century. Founded in 1965, it began distilling in 1966, an important year for cellar masters, who agree that it was the best year for the sherry butt. Closed in 1982 by the Invergordon Distillers group, it wouldn’t open its doors again until 1991 under the guidance of its new owners.
True to our roots, at Deanston we still value handcrafted techniques. What makes our distillery special goes far beyond its bricks and mortar. For us, it’s about our people and the traditional methods they use to craft a range of single malts which command respect and pay tribute to our rich heritage.
The process begins with water from the River Teith, which flows over granite, making it very soft and perfect for making whisky. With help from the original lade used by the mill, the water is directed towards the distillery for use in production and powering the turbines.
We only ever use Scottish grown crops, meaning all of our malted barley is sourced from local farmers, before being milled into grist and tested by hand, to ensure the perfect mix of quick and slow natural sugars.
Once milled, the ‘grist’ goes into our open- topped mash tun, one of a handful still in use in Scotland, where it is mixed with hot water. The sugars create a sweet liquid known as ‘wort’, which slowly drains through the perforated copper floor for fermentation. This is measured and meticulously recorded by hand.
The liquid then flows to the Wash Back for fermentation where nature works its magic. Yeast and wort sugars interact and turn into an alcohol, known as ‘wash’. This process takes on average 100 hours; this is unusually long and produces fruity flavours as well as many of the other intricate flavours that define a Deanston whisky.
When it’s ready, the ‘wash’ is then transferred to the wash stills and heated by large copper coils to encourage evaporation. As the vapours rise up and condense, they move to the spirit stills. The unique characteristics developed during fermentation are further enriched by the copper.
Our whisky is twice distilled - first, in a wash still and then in a spirit still where it separates into three sections: the head, the tail and the 'heart of the run'. The 'heart' is the part that interests us; this is our 'middle' or 'spirit' cut. The heads and tails will be used in the next distillation.
This precious cut or 'new make' is transferred into the number one spirit vat where it is reduced with water from the River Teith to 63.5%. Our distilling team then decant the liquid into oak wood casks, which are placed into the cool weaving shed of the original mill to mature.
Our whiskies are unchill-filtered and natural colour, meaning nothing is added and nothing is taken away. Buy Deanston whisky online from VINO&VINO wine and spirits shop and enjoy free delivery in Yerevan.
