Bought: Online Whisky Auction, 16th December 2015
Ratings:
81.67/100 – Whiskybase (average from 5 member votes)
81/100 – Malt Maniacs (average from 6 maniac votes)
Convalmore, much like Coleburn I blogged about yesterday, was another Speyside distillery that bit the dust in 1985. Another similarity between the two distilleries was their output, which was destined (and designed) for blending, rather than turning into single malt. But when a distillery closes everything changes and it’s more profitable to whoever gets the remaining casks to bottle them up individually and sell them off as rare treasures (even though they might not taste that nice). At least with Convalmore there’s a better chance of finding a good one than Coleburn. The author of Malt Madness says the first seven samples he tried of Convalmore scored above average, which is encouraging.
81/100 and over 81/100 from the Malt Maniacs and Whiskybase is a respectable score for my miniature Convalmore bottled by Signatory. The bottle still has a good level for something produced in 1997 almost 20 years ago. One of the Malt Maniacs, Serge Valentin author of Whiskyfun, scores this dram 80/100. He says the nose is “interesting but simple” having started with a “fresh hazelnut skin”. In the taste he finds creaminess, sweet fruit liquor, Malibu, bubble gum, marsh mallow, grassy notes, cold herbal tea and concludes with ‘robust but simple’. The finish he finds “long but bitter” with burnt vegetables. In summary it seems he only scores it as high as 80/100 because of the “special notes of hazelnut skin” in the nose. His complete review can be found here.
Whisky Den 