Imperial Secret Speyside Collection – A’Glac Charrann 32 Years Old 1990

With Imperial demolished in 2013 and silent since 1998, bottlings like this are among the last records of a lost Speyside distillery. This is an official distillery bottling, distilled in 1990 and released at 32 years old. The outturn was 1572 bottles, released for Europe. It carries the Secret Speyside Collection name, the Chivas Brothers range launched in 2019 to showcase lesser known Speyside distilleries.

Imperial ran four large copper pot stills at Carron and made a fruity Speyside spirit that mostly went into blends such as Teacher's and Ballantine's. This bottling matured in ex-Bourbon American oak. Across 32 years, the toasted staves released vanillin, which reads as vanilla, and oak lactones, which carry coconut, while the cask char filtered heavier sulphur notes from the spirit.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 48.5%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon wood supplies furfural for toasted almond, eugenol for clove and warm spice, and maltol for a soft toffee sweetness. The long maturation draws tannins from the oak, drying the finish into clean wood.