Convalmore Distillery Dufftown

Κατάσταση εταιρίας: Ανενεργό

Ιδρύθηκε: 1894

Ιδιοκτήτης: William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd

Όγκος παραγωγής: Closed (R.I.P.)

Επισκεψιμότητα: Δεν δέχεται εύκολα κοινό

Τηλέφωνο: Not supplied

This Speyside single malt distillery is now sadly a dead distillery (R.I.P.). Convalmore has rarely ever been bottled as a single malt but was a major part of the Buchanan, Lowrie's and Black & White blends. No official Convalmore bottlings were released before the distillery closed in 1985 and to date there have been just two, both under Diageo’s Rare Malts Selection label: a 1977 bottled in 2005 (28 year old) and a 1978 bottled in 2003.

Diageo retain the rights to market official bottlings so we may yet see further releases. However, the distillery is long closed and this is rare stuff so any new bottlings won't be bargain basement priced.

Situated just outside Dufftown close to the River Fiddich, construction of Convalmore started in 1893 by local architect Donald Mackay for the newly formed Convalmore-Glenlivet Distillery Co Ltd. Completed in 1894, this was the fourth distillery of seven built in Dufftown, collectively known as the 'Seven Stills of Dufftown', the others were Mortlach (1824), Glenfiddich (1887), Balvenie (1892), Dufftown (1896), Parkmore (1894) and Glendullan (1898).

The Glaswegian whisky merchants W & P Lowrie & Co Ltd acquired Convalmore as their first distillery in 1904 for £6,000 but just two years later due to a turn of fortunes, the company was forced to sell to a customer and blender, James Buchanan & Co. Ltd.

A fire devastated the distillery on the 29th October 1909 but it was rebuilt the following year when a continuous still was added. The experiment with a column distillation was abandoned in 1916 due to disappointing aging of the whisky and pot still distillation was resumed.

Convalmore was merged into Distiller Company Ltd (an ancestor of Diageo) in the 1920s and the distillery was subsequently modernised in 1964 and this included conversion to indirect steam heating and the addition of another pair of pot stills so Convalmore now boasted two wash and two spirit stills.

The distillery was mothballed in 1985 and the distilling equipment later removed. The buildings were purchased by W. Grant and Sons in 1990 and are now part of the vast Glenfiddich complex which also encompasses the neighbouring distilleries of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie.