New Arrival: Cadenhead Convalmore-Glenlivet 36 Year Old
Cadenhead are knocking out some cracking releases over the past
year including my favourite of 2013 so far from Highland Park. They've also been
putting out some wonderfully aged bottlings from distilleries that are sadly no
more, to widespread positive reviews including the Banff 36 Year Old I bought recently. We've also been treated
lately to a Rosebank and a Littlemill, now here comes a very rare sight indeed;
a Convalmore-Glenlivet.
This distillery still stands but is out of action and used by neighbouring
distilleries for storage nowadays with the equipment within long since removed.
Clearly this isn't a distillery that will be making a comeback and this leaves
us with the very few bottlings that have been available over the years. You can
read more about Convalmore here.
Again this is a Cadenhead small batch release which is intended
more for the foreign market. The cask itself yielded a healthy number of
bottles; far better than the aforementioned Banff and the cask strength is
impressive. It seems to be a sad fact with these aged releases that
distilleries and the quality of their malt has come of age. In computerised
Scotch terms today such a length of maturation is beyond mainstream commercial
value. Patience is rewarded and paying around £166 for a bottle I think this is
a reasonable price for something rather special. Compare this to the Diageo2013 release which is also 36 years but an edition of 2980 bottles and has a
retail price of £600!!
I'll include a copy of the tasting notes in the photograph below but for now here are the details:
Info
Distillery: Convalmore
Age: 36 years
Age: 36 years
Distilled: 1977
Bottled: 2013
Limited Edition of: 288 bottles
Strength: 58.2%
Limited Edition of: 288 bottles
Strength: 58.2%
Cask: Bourbon Hogshead
UPDATE: I actually attended a whisky tasting evening and this was the star dram of the night which received universal praise from all attendees whether they were regulars, or tourists wanting to experience a bit of Scottish whisky in Edinburgh on a cold evening. It oozes quality, a thick leathery taste with added sweetness that holds up very well with a touch of water. A fantastic whisky if you get the opportunity to try it - then do so!
UPDATE: I actually attended a whisky tasting evening and this was the star dram of the night which received universal praise from all attendees whether they were regulars, or tourists wanting to experience a bit of Scottish whisky in Edinburgh on a cold evening. It oozes quality, a thick leathery taste with added sweetness that holds up very well with a touch of water. A fantastic whisky if you get the opportunity to try it - then do so!
