Glen Deveron 10 Year Old

Rather confusingly, Glen Deveron 10 year old is the official distillery bottling of the MacDuff distillery. Founded in 1960, and at only 56 years old, MacDuff is a relative newcomer in Scotland.  It is located in the Eastern edge of the Speyside appellation and claims itself to be Highland, rather than Speyside. It draws it’s water from the River Deveron. The distillery is comprised of 2 wash and 3 spirit stills, this odd number is unusual, but not unique.  MacDuff distillery shares this arrangement with Talisker of Skye.  The MacDuff Distillery is owned by Dewars, and 90% of the production goes to make the Dewars blended Scotch Whisky.

The MacDuff distillery also sells barrels of its raw (un-aged) spirit to independent bottlers (an independent bottler is one who buys raw spirit from a distillery, then ages that spirit in their own casks – usually in their own bonded warehouse). However, independently bottled Glen Deveron must be labelled and retailed under the name ‘MacDuff’ rather than ‘Glen Deveron’. Only whisky distilled and aged at the MacDuff distillery may be called ‘Glen Deveron’. Go figure.

The palate is rich and intense with nice creamy mouthfeel, good dried fruits, nuts and just a hint of smoke.  It is not sweet like many Speyside whiskies, so perhaps highland is a better descriptor for this whisky.  It has an astringency that is well balanced by the intensity of butterscotch.  There is a nice clean finish and a gentle afterglow leaving you wanting another sip.