The Basics:

Character: Nutty, rich, leathery and profound.

Score: 98/100

The details:

Convalmore was built in 1894, becoming the fourth of Dufftown’s famed “seven stills”. Named after the nearby Conval Hills, it was one of many distilleries built during the 1890s, boom years for the industry, and especially for Speyside. The original owners went bankrupt, and Convalmore passed to W.P. Lowrie, a leading Glasgow-based blender broker, in 1904. 

Two years later, James Buchanan, of the eponymous blending house, purchased Lowrie’s business, and with it Convalmore. The popularity of the company’s blends kept Convalmore afloat where others failed. At one point, a continuous still designed to produce malt whisky was added, a highly unusual arrangement; nowadays, even with a pure malt mash bill, whisky produced in such a fashion would not legally be single malt whisky. 

Buchanan’s became part of DCL’s malt distilling arm (SMD) in 1925, and Convalmore remained in the DCL stable for the remainder of its active life. Despite an expansion in the mid-1960s, Convalmore was another victim of DCL’s distillery closures in 1985; it was mothballed, and sold to William Grant and Sons, whose Dufftown facilities it adjoins. DCL successors firms UDV and Diageo have issued a variety of valedictory official bottlings, including in the Rare Malts range, the annual Diageo special releases, and, more recently, as part of the ultra-premium Prima and Ultima range. The buildings remain, but the distilling equipment has been removed and there are no known plans to reopen the plant, despite a growing reputation among connoisseurs.

Although…several other distilleries that have been closed for decades have made a comeback in the last several years. Brora, in the Northern Highlands, recommenced production after more than 35 years of silence in 2021; both Port Ellen, on Islay, and Rosebank, in the Lowlands, were in a similar situation to Convalmore, with buildings still intact but most distilling equipment long gone, and both of them recently resumed production as well. Will Convalmore join them? I don’t know, although it is slightly more likely than in the case of plants that were completely demolished as well as being stripped of their distilling equipment.

What I do know is that this venerable malt–distilled in 1977, and bottled, at 36 years old, in 2013–was an absolute banger. I purchased this bottle from Master of Malt prior to a moratorium on US shipping that has only recently ended. It cost about $800, already a steep price for a bottle of whisky, but cheaper than the going price has been on the remaining bottles more recently. Probably the finest whisky I’ve ever had, I would say this beauty was, rather surprisingly, worth every penny; a beautiful dram that balanced the deep wood, varnish, and tobacco notes of long maturation with spice, nuts, and even some fruitiness. The day I poured the last dram was a sad one.

Convalmore 36 (1977), 58% abv

Tasting notes:

Nose: Glue; dried grass; sea-salt, apple and semi-ripe banana. Plum. Lots of woody spice–vanilla, and maybe nutmeg? Warmed apple pie. Fresh, slightly damp pipe tobacco. Damp mesquite chips. Faint, earthy smoke.

Body: Medium to full, mouth-coating and rather oily.

Palate: Amazing; well-rounded, balanced and delicious with a near perfect interplay of orchard fruits, wood, spice and leathery feintiness. Spiced apple. Walnuts and pecan. Dried fruit, especially papaya, and some orange. Mellow. There’s also some wood and old leather. Very big, rich and complex, and surprisingly lively for its great age.

Finish: Drying–the bitter notes of wood, old leather and tobacco take over and there’s even some dark chocolate. Earthy. Long.

Score: 98/100

Who should buy it?: Different people have different tastes. As you can tell, I absolutely loved this stuff. I shared samples of this with four other people, and two seemed to be just as impressed as I was while the other two were a little underwhelmed. People out in the wider Scotch community seem similarly split between being over the moon about it and not being all that amazed by it (although I’ve never seen anyone say it was bad!). Take that as you will; my take is that if you are able to comfortably spend a couple of thousand dollars on a bottle of whisky, you’re not going to find too many better bottles to spend those dollars on. 

Overall thoughts: Absolutely brilliant stuff, and a masterclass in the wonders of long maturation.

If you enjoyed this review and would like to make a small donation to support this site, please click here.