Deanston was originally a mill built in 1785 by Richard Arkwright on the border of the Lowlands and Highlands on the banks of the River Teith. After it was bought in 1964 by blender Brodie Hepburn, who also owned Tullibardine and Macduff, the site was converted into a distillery, with production beginning in 1969. Having been bought by Invergordon in 1972, Deanston closed a decade later, in the height of the Whisky Loch. It was bought by Burn Stewart in 1990 and reopened the following year. Although official bottlings of Deanston from the 1970s exist, the brand only really came into its own in the 2000s.

A Deanston 8 year old from the 1970s (in the Invergordon era) for the Italian market. Deanston Mill was reserved for the Italian market and Deanston Malt for the British market. These bottlings appeared in the mid-1970s and continued into the 1980s, before the distillery was bought by Burn Stewart in 1990.