My first ever Imperial, and since i knew pretty nothing about this distillery, I tried googling it up. Seems it was bought by Chivas Bros. in 2005, and is no longer operational, and was supposed to be demolished in 2005 and be used as grounds for a new housing project, or something. I’ve seen some “news” talking about new plans for a distillery to be built at the same place, by Chivas bros. but currently it’s closed down .Imperial was equipped with one stainless steel mash tun with traditional mixing gear, six larch wood washbacks and two pairs of copper pot stills (2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills).
Imperial 16 yo , 1995 , Whiskybase Archives , 51.7 % abv , £ 55.50
Nose: Creamy. Classic ex bourbon. Stewed apples. pears, cereal and Malt. as well as a few notes of citrus . A hint of smoked wood and charred barrels.
Palate : Nice creaminess here with red grapefruit , malt , cereal as well as some spice, butter and that smoky cask we got on the nose makes a comeback, continues with some cocoa.
Finish : Rather dry finish to it with cocoa and wood.
A fine malt, with nice smoky wood, and fruit going on. Liked it quite a bit. i can’t say i am surprised, since I had no expectaions this being my first Imperial single cask. I think this bottle is long gone from the WhiskyBase shop, but worth looking for at that price.
Score: 85/100
official sample provided by WhiskyBase