Tobacco Power Flavor for the Adventurer after Dinner
Product Specifics
- Scotch Reviewed: The Deveron 12 Year
- Distillery: Macduff Distillery
- Region: Highland
- ABV: 40%
- Suggested Retail Price: $60+
Mark Garbin’s Review
So you walk into a cigar bar. You crave deep dark paneling and a quiet scene. The server brings over a humidor and asks if you want a Havana. You blush and say ‘I love the smell but I don’t indulge. What would you suggest?’ With a grin and not m issing a beat, he breaks out the Deveron 12 bottle and a Glencairn. A dram, in a puff of magic, appears in your glass.
Scents of red delicious apples, honey and lemon greet you, but it wasn’t that Upmann-esqe aroma you wanted. Just as you’re about to lift your hand to complain, phenolic tobacco pummels the sweetness. Hmm…Interesting for a low ABV spirit. From where did that appear? Wow! Ok, let’s try it. Arggghh. The fruit and sugar come back but…what’s going on? Whew! A Maduro fragrance returns and the initial tastes in my mouth disappear replaced by a good Cuban. But wait, now I sense a massive pepper extract. Please stop this merry-go-round! Sigh.
Sometimes, you meet a whisky where everything is not in balance and it winds up being valued. Closer to spirits designed for Power, its strong qualities rotate. The Adventurer will yearn for those flummoxed taste buds. A Rob Roy made with this, creates a cocktail pleasing for its changing flavors. A Rusty Nail all of a sudden becomes more than a mere sweet vs alcohol smack down. It transforms into a collage of style. Forget water. All you’ll find is total dilution. Open your arms, heart and palate to a multi-one-sided Scotch. If a mixed drink or a cordial doesn’t suit your fancy, pick out a medium strength stogie. Then sit outside in pleasant weather and pour yourself a measure of Deveron 12. If you light up, the UFC Speyside flavor cage match takes your smoke to a new level. If not, you’ll get the tobacco without fumes, anyway.
Mark Garbin’s Evaluation
| Aromas & Flavor Appeals to | Optimal Client Type | Great For |
| Subtlety Aficionado | Apprentice | Cocktails |
| Power Flavor Admirer | Enthusiast | Neat Before Dinner |
| Balanced Devotee | Adventurer | With Food |
| Chameleon Lover | Hedonist | Dessert or Afterwards |
Distiller rating: “There’s a humble elegance to this whisky. It has all the sensory pleasures of retiring to a small farm house. You stick your nose in and smell wet hay, a dab of honey in your morning oatmeal, and a pot of white flowers by the windowsill. You have to work at it but underneath the charming bouquet you’ll discover dry wood smoke, orchard fruit, and ground white pepper on the palate. All of this is cleansed at the end with a warm splash of Lapsang tea. The whole experience is light and fleeting of course, because the dram.” -Sam Davies
Whiskeyreviewer rating: “The Deveron 12 is not as sherried as its stablemate, Craigellachie, but it has its own charms. It is a great starter malt for a novice scotch drinker, but it has enough presence to make it a fine after work sipper for more seasoned whisky fans.” –Kurt Maitland