Imperial 20 Years Old 1995 Cask #50192 (Signatory)

Imperial spent most of its life supplying blends and rarely appeared as a single malt; since its 1998 closure and 2013 demolition, what survives is almost entirely independent bottlings. This single cask was filled in 1995 and bottled by Signatory Vintage at 20 years old, for its The Un-Chillfiltered Collection - Cask Strength range. Single cask number 50192 yielded 284 bottles, released for Luxembourg.

The distillery's large stills gave a clean spirit rich in esters, floral and faintly waxy, typical of Speyside before its closure. This bottling matured in ex-Bourbon American oak. Across 20 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 50%, 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 stewed fruit. The long maturation draws tannins from the oak, drying the finish into clean wood.