Of all the bottles sitting close to Deanston 12, few are liked as widely. It lands in the top 18% for how broadly it pleases a room. That is a roundabout way of saying it rarely meets a drinker it puts off, and it is the thing to hold onto before anything else here.
So what is in the glass. Deanston 12 is the non-chill-filtered, higher-strength twelve that took over from the standard bottling back in 2009. The nose opens with orange marmalade and shortbread dipped in honey, then ginger, cinnamon and vanilla behind it. The palate is soft and unhurried: salted caramel, milk chocolate, hazelnuts, fudge and a sweet oak sitting underneath. The finish runs to medium length, with a little peppery oak on the way out. Nothing about it asks you to concentrate, which is rather the point.
This week it is $97 for members at Dan Murphy's. It usually sells around $112, so the members' price this week sits at the lower end of what we have seen for it. Worked out as a pour at home, that is about $3.79 a standard drink across roughly 26 drinks in the bottle — under the $6.28 a standard drink a $13 pint works out to at the pub.
Now the part people ask about. The drinkers of the bottles closest to Deanston 12 rate it highly: every one of them who shares its flavours would give nine-tenths of what their own bottle costs them, or more. Put all of their answers together, each starting from what they pay for their own, and they run from $83 to $138. This week's $97 for members sits comfortably inside that spread.
If you want a change of scene, three bottles nearby will do the job.
Tomatin 12, usually around $90, is the closest stand-in. To a Deanston 12 drinker it gives about 97% of what the Deanston does: pleasantly sweet, a good malt foundation and an abundance of bright summer fruit, clean and straightforward with it.
Dalwhinnie 15, usually around $95, comes in at about 94%. It is one of the quietly underrated members of the original Classic Six, and the nose tells you why — a deep, honeyed sweetness of caramelised fruits and thick cream, a light touch of fennel and sharp citrus. Thick and very gentle through the middle, which is where its charm lives.
Glengoyne 12, $89 for members, lands around 93%. A cask-strength, non-chill-filtered Glengoyne carrying that clean maltiness the distillery is known for. Add a splash of water and it opens up, turning fragrant and fruity, cherry pits and apples, with hints of anise and almonds.
A yes for each of you, then. If Deanston 12 is already your bottle, $97 for members is simply what it costs this week, and the glass hasn't changed. If you drink the Tomatin, the Deanston offers more of the same easy sweetness with a touch more going on underneath. If Dalwhinnie is your usual, you will find a similar honeyed softness pitched a shade lighter. And if you came in on the Glengoyne, the Deanston trades a little of the cask-strength grip for a rounder, more relaxed pour. Whichever foot you walk in on, it is worth pouring one and seeing where you land.
None recorded.
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