The Deanston distillery sits on the banks of the River Teith, the river which acts as the distillery’s water source. The waters of the River Teith are among Scotland’s purest and the headwaters rise in the Trossach mountain range. Deanston was founded in 1965 on the site of an 18th century weaving shed, just outside the village of Doune in Perthshire.
The main part of the distillery is sited in a listed cotton mill. A turbine and dam, which employ the waters of the Teith, render Deanston electrically self-sufficient. In 1971, the first single malt Scotch whisky was released from Deanston and named Old Bannockburn. A year later, the distillery was under Invergordon ownership. Deanston had been closed for some eight years when Burn Stewart Distillers acquired the distillery for the princely sum of £2.1million and a year later Deanston distillery was back in production. A further four years after that and the site played host to a gin distillery as well.
Deanston boasts two warehouses in which 45,000 casks mature, 85% of this is used in various blends. One such blend being Burn Stewart’s flagship, Scottish Leader, whose annual sales exceed five million bottles worldwide. There are but a couple of official house bottlings and similarly there are very few independent bottlings.
