Green Awards profile: Deanston

Situated on the banks of the River Teith, near Doune in Perthshire, Deanston operated as a cotton mill for around 180 years before it was transformed into a distillery in 1966.

The huge waterwheels which once powered the cotton looms, were replaced by more efficient turbines.

To this day, Deanston’s own hydro-electric power plant provides enough energy for all of the distillery’s requirements as well as producing an over-supply which is sold back to the National Grid and equates to around 400 homes of average consumption.

Added to this, the distillery is one of a select few to be approved by the Organic Food Federation for the production of whisky using organic barley, which has been practised at Deanston for the last 10 years.

Today, Deanston employs 14 local people, uses only Scottish barley and relies on the skill of its distillers rather than modern technology – there are no computers used in the making of this single malt.

In 2008, the distillery reformulated the liquid and redesigned the packaging to better reflect the brand essence, hence all materials are either recycled or recyclable and it has recently moved from gift tubes to cardboard gift boxes in order to further reduce weight.

A Deanston spokesperson said: “Initially, we launched the 12 year old into the UK and within a few months, Marks & Spencer approached us to develop a Deanston variant specifically for them as they firmly believed our eco-friendly credentials tied in with their corporate ethos – this variant can now be found in over 150 of their stores nationwide.

“We also gained strong distribution within several new international markets and we quickly realised there was significant demand for us to add to our brand portfolio.”

Virgin Oak is the latest addition to the Deanston range – it has been specifically created by our master blender to provide an entry-level Deanston variant without losing any of the original quality and character of its older sibling.

“Age is often used as a measure of quality,” said the spokesperson. “However, with Virgin Oak we want to prove that it’s not the only defining factor – the quality of barley, water, distillation and cask all play a very important role and in this case, we have finished this ‘young’ Deanston in brand new oak casks, handmade in a family-owned cooperage and simply bursting full of flavour.

“Our precious liquid is filled into these casks only at the very end of the maturation process as we want to extract just enough flavour and character from the oak before decanting and bottling it.

Non-chill-filtered, natural colour and at a strength of 46.3%, Virgin Oak remains true to our beliefs – nothing added but hard work and determination.”

Deanston Virgin Oak is one of the entries in the 2011 Drinks Business Green Awards. Click here for further details.

db, 17.11.2010