Went to Florida last weekend and while getting some Chimay Cinq Cents to help quench the 88-degree-Fahrenheit early evening thirst noticed that the Deanston 12 was only $25.99 at ABC. I was hesitant--I think I had tried a dram of Deanston maybe 15 years ago, I think it was a 10-year-old, and it seemed a bit frightfully "light" or plain or something (but at this stage of my life, I've been to Islay and BACK).
And this one refuses to stay out of the glass. It is CLASSIC old-school Highland. It's like cedar chests and pleasant steps quietly taken in creaking oak-floored institutions. It's like drops of malt sweetness dripped along the bark of maple trees and dripped into wax honeybee cups poured across marzipan into wooden goblets consumed in convivial rooms in smoky castle keeps. I'm going back in three weeks and loading up the carry-on.