So a Scot and a Mexican walk into a bar… no joke – they did, and this month we’ve got the result of that little shin-dig to share with the Club. For the FIRST TIME in Australia…a 15 year old, LIMITED EDITION Highland Whisky finished in a you guessed it, Tequila Cask.
This month we’re proud to launch the latest from Scottish Highland distillery Deanston as our ‘Members Extra’ – The Deanston 15-year-old Tequila Cask Finish! An experimental, limited-edition release – this 15-year-old Tequila Cask Finish celebrates spirit with true highland character. Finished in hand-selected casks that once held Agave Tequila from the Jaliscan Highlands in Mexico, this is a fruity, floral dram with sweet, warming notes.
Deanston is one of two Scottish distilleries known for producing a ‘waxy’ spirit. They attribute this characteristic to “…the combination of our water source, location, open mash tun and hands-on methods”.
Matured in traditional oak hogsheads for 13 years, then finished for another two years in ex – agave tequila casks. For those unaware – a hogshead is made from the staves of broken down ex-bourbon barrels with a new heads. Traditionally, 5 bourbon barrels are converted into 4 x 250l Hogsheads.
The hand selected tequila casks originally held high quality 100% agave tequila produced from 7 to 8 year-old Blue Agave grown exclusively in the Altos (Highlands) region of Jalisco, Mexico. Tequilas from the Highlands, such as this, are known for their more fruity and floral character. The casks held the same style of tequila for four to five fills, being disgorged both as Reposado (aged for just under one year) and Añejo (aged up to 3 years).
The fruity floral notes delivered from this cask selection complements the citrusy, waxy character of Deanston – producing a phenomenal final product!
Nose: Tart fruits – kiwi, pineapple and raspberry, vanilla malted milkshake and a very interesting – almost savoury/salty – note there too.
Palate: Ahh – I see the ‘waxyness’ they speak of. Very mouth-coating as you’d expect. An initial wave of sweet sultanas and raisins , vanilla becomes dry and slightly cheek sucking. – a bit like sherbet in fact – sweet yet sour.
Finish: Wow – that waxy quality really becomes notable as the dram swirls around and slowly fades. It’s a thick coating of slightly astringent salivatory, scrumptiousness. You think it’s fading – but it comes back as you lick and suck that totally tantalizing spirit from your teeth, or so it seems! 🙂
This is a delicious and very, very moorish whisky that hits all the sweet spots for me. Nice and sweet up front, but palate cleansingly dry at the tail. The mouthfeel is incredible, and ‘waxy’ is a perfect description. The spirit just seems to cling onto your palate for dear life!
Hello Single Malt Whisky Club of Australia!
We’re so happy that you’ve chosen this outstanding Deanston 15 year old Tequila Cask Finish. This whisky was matured in traditional oak barrels and for 13 years before we transferred it to the tequila casks to finish for just over two years. Deanston is a Scottish Highland distillery and the tequila casks that we used came from a highland distillery – the Jaliscan Highlands of Mexico.
That tequila is known to have more fruity and floral characteristics, which really compliments our waxy, citrusy character of Deanston. That fruity, floral characteristic of the tequila really does come over. Beautifully rich yet dry, wonderful mouth coating. Un-chill filtered so you do get that beautiful mouth coating, but also the waxy character really adds to that and giving you a burst of citrus.
TASTING NOTES:
Nose: Fresh. Notes of ripe pineapple, crème Brûlée, mixed nuts and light oak.
Palate: Rich, yet dry on the palate. Bursting with flavours of caramelised agave, toasted almonds, baked apples with custard and warming spice
Finish: Long finish with brown spice and sweet, citrus bursts.
Our home is far from the quaint Highland distilleries that may come to mind when you think about whisky in Scotland. Formerly a bustling cotton mill that in its heyday employed 1500 people, the building and community of Deanston were facing uncertainty when it closed for good in 1965… enter our founder; Brodie Hepburn.
Our founder, Brodie Hepburn, is far from your average founder. A true pioneer, he saw huge potential in the battered old cotton mill, where others only saw challenges. He saw potential in the river Teith, with water soft enough for whisky, and the strength to power a community. He saw the people of Deanston town, with the passion and honest work ethic to become true whisky makers.
Hepburn’s took a risk and it paid off. The old cotton mill was transformed into a place perfect for whisky making.
The mighty River Teith is so much more than a water source. It’s so powerful, it can fuel a distillery. The old cotton mill built a lade and installed one of the biggest waterwheels in Europe to harness its power. Then came electrical turbines in the 40s. Fast forward to today and we’re still using turbines to generate electricity from the river. In fact, we generate enough energy to power the distillery, our offices, The Coffee Bothy, the Visitor Centre, and still have approximately 75% remaining to sell back to the National Grid!
The River Teith is the literal power behind everything we create. But it’s more than our life source, it’s symbolic of our ambition.
Our community began with the cotton mill. It was one of the things that persuaded our founder to take the risk and build the distillery. A community with the passion and honest work ethic to become true whisky makers.
From the kinship of our distillers, to our present day innovators, to our growing community across the world, there is community and character in every single bottle of Deanston whisky.
We source only the finest Scottish Barley, close in proximity to our distillery, in partnership with local farmers. It’s not the norm to only use Scottish barley, but it’s important to us.
We use traditional, hands-on methods and fermentation that takes far longer, because it’s the right thing to do, transforming the grain into the waxy, soft, smooth highland single malt we’re known for.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.