Imperial 1998 Ch7 (Chapter 7 (Ch7))

With Imperial demolished in 2013 and silent since 1998, bottlings like this are among the last records of a lost Speyside distillery. This single cask was filled in 1998 and bottled by Chapter 7 (Ch7) at 22 years old, for its A Whisky Anthology - Monologue range. Single cask number 104355 yielded 218 bottles, released for Europe and Asia.

Imperial worked to a fruity, lightly floral house character, the product of tall stills and a comparatively light spirit cut. This bottling matured in ex-Bourbon American oak. Across 22 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 52.1%, 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 citrus, dried fruit, fresh orchard fruit, dried hay, honey and vanilla. The long maturation draws tannins from the oak, drying the finish into clean wood.