Imperial 25 Years Old 1981 Old & Rare The Platinum Selection (Douglas Laing)

Founded at Carron in 1897 and demolished in 2013, Imperial produced its last spirit in 1998, leaving a finite and shrinking stock of single malt. Douglas Laing drew this 25 years old release from 1981 spirit for its Old & Rare - The Platinum Selection range. The outturn was 270 bottles, released for Germany.

Imperial's spirit was light and fruity, the Speyside character built for blending, which is part of why single malt releases stayed uncommon. This bottling matured in an ex-Oloroso sherry butt. Across 25 years, Oloroso is a fully oxidised sherry, so the wood entered the cask loaded with polyphenols and melanoidins, the latter reading as fig and raisin.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 57.2%, without dilution, the ex-Oloroso wood gives dried fruit and a walnut dryness drawn from its tannins, with a leather and cocoa edge from slow oxidation. Imperial's esters persist underneath as stewed orchard fruit, into a dry, nutty finish.