Convalmore is one of the greatest lost Speyside distilleries of modern times. The distillery was founded in 1893, and was part of the Buchanan’s stable when the latter joined Distillers Company Limited in 1925, with much of its operational life spent producing whisky for the Black & White blend. Convalmore was expanded in the 1960s before being mothballed by DCL in 1985 and sold to neighbours William Grant & Sons, whose Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries adjoin the Convalmore site.
Almost unknown during its operational lifetime, Convalmore’s deliciously old school waxy, fruity malt whisky was championed in the 1980s by indie bottlers including Gordon & MacPhail and Cadenhead’s. Convalmore’s first ever official bottling was a superb Rare Malts Edition in 2003, almost twenty years after the distillery had closed its doors, and subsequent Diageo Special Release Convalmores in 2005, 2013 and 2017 also met with universal acclaim.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.
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