Deanston Distillery

The Free Bacchus Story

Once a year Deanston stops and strips its production areas down for a thorough clean. The Organic Food Federation then inspects the distillery, and only after that does the organic spirit run begin, from organic barley malted at an organic maltings, into casks that are certified too.

Deanston sits on the River Teith near Doune, in an old cotton mill that has made whisky since 1966. It makes Highland single malt, Scotch from malted barley at a single distillery, and its house style is unpeated and, in its own word, waxy: a rich texture that coats the mouth. Fermentation runs for up to 100 hours, which the distillery says is far longer than most, and the whisky is bottled with no added colour and no chill filtration.

The distillery was one of the first in the world to make organic single malt, certified by the Organic Food Federation in 2000, and the certificate today is registered to CVH Spirits Ltd at the Deanston site. It covers the organic bottlings only. The core Deanston range, including the 12 and 18 Year Old, is not organic, so the word Organic on the label is what to look for.

The organic release on sale in 2026 is the 2002 Organic American Oak, matured for 20 years in re-charred American oak and bottled at cask strength, 49.7%. The distillery offered 120 bottles online.