Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Speyside:

Convalmore

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Convalmore Distillery
Dufftown
Banffshire AB55 4BD

owner: William Grant & Sons

Creation date: 1894

The Convalmore distillery was built in 1894 in Dufftown by the Convalmore-Glenlivet Distillery Co Ltd and taken over by W.P. Lowrie & Co (part of the James Buchanan & Co group). The distillery was partially destroyed by fire in 1909.
Fire was very common in distilleries, due to highly inflammable materiel (whisky but also the spirit vapours in the warehouses) stored in the building.
Reconstruction was quick, and in 1910, the owners decided to experiment with the making of malt whisky in a Coffey Still. This was not really a great success.
UDV bought the distillery in 1925 and resold it in 1990 to the owner of Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries, William Grant and sons. In the meanwhile important renovation works have been done in the 60's by Diageo, successors of DCL (and UDV). The licence is still kept by Diageo who have the right to market official bottlings. William Grant just purchases the premises, and uses them as warehouses.

Convalmore single malt is available from independent bottlers, and an official release has recently been bottled.

The whisky

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

	Convalmore


			sample
O.B.	28 years	19
	Rare Malts 24 years	18
Ian McLeod	Dun Bheagan 15 years		17
Scott's Selection	Scott's Selection 1975	18 1/2

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Convalmore 1977 - 2005 Limited edition
Age	28 years
Alcohol	57,9°
Bottlers	Official
Price/litre

The nose is unusually expressive, very floral with very nice hints of fruit (coconut, banana, mango, apple). A real invitation... Very far from the discretion of lots of whiskies, and very far from the aggressiveness of many others. In the palate, a wonderful complexity, starting on slightly acid notes (citrus fruit) which are soon replaced by a kind of alcohol feeling, fading rapidly to make room for some very nice smooth malty notes combined to fine woody hints. A nice finish, lingering and warm, with a pleasant mix of nutty hints and citrus fruit, and finally coconut despite quite a strong alcohol feeling.

An exceptional nose. Some mix of coconuts with sweet spices, with strong medicinal hints quickly disappearing after a few aeration minutes.
In the palate, when the first alcoholic impression is away, a very nice complexity, allying fine woody hints to malty smoothness. Relative smoothness however, due to the high percentage of alcohol, and a bit in contradiction with some discrete citrus hints. The finish is amazingly long and rich. Coconut mixes delicately with wood and citrus fruit. Really a very nice bottle.

Convalmore 1978 - 2003 Rare Malts 24 yo
Age	24 years
Alcohol	59,4°
Bottlers	Official
Price/litre

A nice fruity and slighlty smoky nose. Some spices on the background and some smells somewhere between musty ones and mushrooms in a humid undergrowth. In the mouth, a nice but paradowal impression of citrus freshness and old wood. The taste developes constantly between those extremes. This makes it rather complex. The percentage of alcohol does not hinder. The finish is nice too, warm and woody, but however a bit short.

Convalmore 1975 Scott's selection
Age	29 years
Alcohol	49,3°
Bottlers	Scotts Selection
Price/litre

A rather clear nose, mixing citrus and malt, slightly pungent. In the mouth, a mix of honey and acid citrus with a walnut taste on the background. A very nice balance between smoothness, bitterness and acidity gives this whisky a very pleasant complexity. A very nice finish, lingering and between cereal and chocolate.

A very nice nose, marked by a kind of freshness, somewhere between mint and citrus fruit. In the palate, a marvelous impression of complexity, with tastes simultaneously dominated by citus like acid notes and very smooth hints of honey, developing rather quickly on chocolate and malt with an amazing impressin of very fine wood. The whole is very subtle. A finish of great distinction, very complex and very long, but really very long, which brings pleasure to a rather unknown high level.

Convalmore 1983-1998 Dun Bheagan (Blind tasting 2006)
Age	15 years
Bottler	Ian McLeod

A vegetal fresh nose. I would say some cut nettle, which smell is more spiced as that of grass. It is less acid too. Some pepper and may be some fruity hints.
In the palate, smoothness and chocolate notes. Rather straight, this whisky develops on a rather limited however quite interesting taste palette. Malt and sweetness.
The finish is warm and quit long, but rather straight too, which is coherent with the nose and mouth.

Speyside

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
about the Speyside area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please
click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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Last update: Sunday, 17-Feb-2008 20:58:40 CET
Tue 13 05 2008, 09:29 - 35 visiteurs au cours de la dernière heure et 1 visiteur sur le site en ce moment.
Copyright:Jean-Marie Putz (2003-2007)

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