Imperial 19 Years Old 1995 Cask #50165 + 50166 (Signatory)

Imperial closed in 1998 after a century of sporadic production and was taken down in 2013 to make way for Dalmunach, so its whisky now comes only from a closed distillery. This single cask was filled in 1995 and bottled by Signatory Vintage at 19 years old, for its Cask Strength Collection range. Single cask number 50165 + 50166 yielded 546 bottles, released for Europe.

Fed by Saladin box maltings and distilled on four stills, Imperial produced a gentle, floral malt valued more as blend filling than as a single malt in its own right. This bottling matured in ex-Bourbon American oak. Across 19 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 52.2%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon wood supplies furfural for toasted almond, eugenol for clove and warm spice, and maltol for a soft toffee sweetness. Recorded bottle notes run to fresh orchard fruit, honey, malt sweetness and fresh oak. The long maturation draws tannins from the oak, drying the finish into clean wood.