Imperial 1995 20 Year (The Ultimate)

This is the 103rd stop on the SDT, an Imperial distillery. This Speyside facility endured several closures, reopenings, and ownership changes. Its final demise came in 2013 when it was torn down to build the new Dalmunach distillery on the same grounds in 2015. Regrettably, most remaining stock was sold for blends instead of single malt releases for collectors. Fortunately, independent bottlers make single malt bottlings possible. Here we have The Ultimate Whisky Company's 20-year-old Imperial. Distilled in 1995, bottled at 46% ABV, naturally colored, and non-chill filtered. The aroma starts with apples, pears, and dry grass. It's not overpowering, but it is pleasant. You'll find almonds, walnuts, vanilla, and some sweet peaches. Hints of light raisins, toffee, and oak appear. There are notes of green grapes, nice floral qualities, and honey. Very subtle banana, a slight maltiness, and a touch of brown sugar are also present. The taste is more robust than the nose suggests, though perhaps not highly complex. Flavors include peaches, honey, raisins, and almonds. Citrus notes, primarily oranges with a bit of lemon, are noticeable. Underripe banana and vanilla are also detected. A medium to full-bodied texture that feels lightly oily, coats the mouth, and then finishes dry. The finish is medium in length, featuring vanilla, citrus, and banana, with a slightly bitter turn. It's not a bad whiskey, but it's far from exceptional, especially considering its age and cost. The price, a steep $200, likely reflects its scarcity more than its quality. It has decent flavors, but nothing that distinguishes it from other Speyside whiskies. Thanks to a friend for the sample. 2.75-3 Cheers

This is it. The final distillery sample I require to claim every active distillery in Scotland (that has an official bottle available). Coincidentally, we included 3 defunct distilleries because we found reasonably priced or easily obtainable bottles to share. That brings me to Imperial. They produced their last spirit in 1998 and were demolished in 2013. This is a 21-year-old pour provided by The Ultimate Whisky Co and comes in at 46% ABV. It’s light gold in the glass and leaves behind tiny drops when you swirl it. The aroma is much like a sweeter, ex-bourbon cask whisky. There’s fresh cut oak and vanilla with some pleasant, light citrus in the background. The palate is quite oily with abundant vanilla and nutty flavors with traces of toffee and raisins blending throughout the entire sip. There’s lemon peel and hints of citrus supporting the back end, too. The finish is medium to long, exceptionally smooth with vanilla and banana notes persisting continuously. Overall, it’s a commendable whisky. Many thanks to my companion Pranay for opening this scarce spirit from his collection. Bottles from this distillery are escalating to unreasonable prices and I don’t think this one is worth anywhere near what he paid ($200). That being stated, I'm pleased our small group achieved this milestone. By my count it's 105 samples tasted, 3 closed distilleries and a handful that don't offer anything to the North American market. There was considerable time, money, and effort invested by my companions here: for helping make this happen. Here's to hoping we can gather again in the future and continue to check off newer distilleries, as well. Cheers.

The night before Thanksgiving, we're continuing our tradition of watching "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." A sample from a friend is what we'll be enjoying tonight. I'm going to take my time with this sample. The color is nearly transparent, resembling sunflower oil. There's a delicate fruit aroma of apples and pears. Vanilla, honey, and butterscotch add a mild sweetness. Walnut and almond nuttiness lingers subtly in the background. This drink hits with sweetness and spice all at once. The body is medium, dense, and smooth. It's like white sugar syrup poured over a fruit salad of apples, pears, and oranges, with black pepper and cinnamon providing a spicy kick. As it fades, a cereal note, reminiscent of Raisin Bran, emerges. The finish has notes of oranges, light brown sugar, and vanilla. A hint of cinnamon spice briefly tingles on the tongue in the final moments. Lastly, the palate feels slightly dry and woody. A satisfactory pour offering a sweeter experience with a touch of spice. It seems a bit young, despite being twenty years old; it feels significantly younger. It's a middle-of-the-road whiskey. It won't offend, but it won't be particularly memorable. [82/100][Tasted: 11/2 1/18]

Nature’s selection at work again...another closed distillery, another “meh, not worth the cost” dram. This was one of the drams I provided for a voluntary closed distillery category in our SDT finals. I'm beginning to realize that most of these closed distilleries shut down during the economic downturn for good reason...they were bad. It's like being the least skilled player on a championship team. You'll get a ring thanks to the stars. But if you get traded to a struggling team...you're done for. The same applies to these closed distilleries. During prosperous times (like now), even subpar distilleries do well. However, during a downturn, the weak ones are the first to disappear. There are a few exceptions, naturally ( Brora, Karuizawa, Hanyu), but for the most part, the distilleries that closed during the economic downturn were shut down because no one would buy their products when a better option was available at the same price. This one is just 'meh'. Typical butter biscuits on the nose, followed by shortbread on the palate. Nothing complex or remarkable, as you might anticipate when spending Macallan-level money.

Fittingly, as I sat down with a small dram of this (thanks to a friend) and a book (The Eucharist by the late Alexander Schmemann), I discovered that the section I was about to read revolved around memory and its role in the Orthodox liturgy. After all, this whisky is itself a concrete form of memory, the liquid last will and testament of a distillery closed for twenty years. It’s a pleasant, but simple, experience - plenty of sweet vanilla on both nose and palate, with candied fruits and frosted cereal. It’s a sweet one, to be sure, but the age has smoothed the sharp edges, and it’s fairly smooth and round with a medium-length finish. I can't say that I'm sad the Imperial Distillery is no more based on this sample, but it's not a bad drop of whisky by any means...though the prices others have mentioned are definitely NOT reflective of its intrinsic qualities as a whisky!

I retrieved this long-forgotten sample from a friend as I had never tried an Imperial before and wanted a baseline before sampling the distillate in the recent Compass Box Magic Cask blend. It was likely worth the wait as this is a style of whisky I appreciate more than I did a few years ago. There’s a flinty pineapple character to the aroma that I quite like. It’s crisp and minerally on the palate, with more of the pineapple contributing to the texture of an otherwise restrained profile. The finish is short and dry. It’s a combination of flavors that I find intriguing and increasingly to my liking, though this isn’t a particularly remarkable instance of them and the finish adds nothing significant. Still, the baseline is set, let's see if Compass Box can deliver the magic.