A range of three duty free offerings from the MacDuff distillery under the name of Glen Deveron were released last year through a particular line of shops. I’m not sure how widely available these malts are but this is the youngest of the range, the others being aged 20 and 30 years old. All three provide reasonable value on paper for the age statements, given the widespread use of NAS in travel retail offerings these days.
The label description is short and only notes toasted cereals, apples and a smooth mellow finish. Not exactly a hard sell on interesting flavours, but here we go.
Its pale gold in colour which suggests little sherry influence and that is largely confirmed through the rest of the experience. The nose is fruity with apple and apricots with a distinct layer of malt, but the main aroma is a juicy woody sweetness reminiscent of maple syrup.
The mouth feel is very smooth with medium body. The two competing flavours of malt and woody syrup provide the main theme but some apples make their way in there to like windfalls.
The smoothness continues to the finish as the label says, and although not the longest, the malt comes through above the syrup to provide a satisfying end.
A very nice all round speyside malt which would probably benefit from a higher alcohol content, but if your sucking your teeth in a duty free shop agonising over what to buy, you can’t go far wrong with this.
I have a bottle of the 20 year old too unopenned as yet, but when I do I'll share my opinions of that.
Strangely enough I've heard a lot of good things about the Glendeveron 16. I've only had the 10yo expression thus far, but the core expression of this distillery was so utterly boring that I never attempted to buy another one. Will keep an eye out. Thanks