Imperial 30 Years Old 1990 Cask #7531 (Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers)

Imperial was a Speyside distillery at Carron that fell silent for the last time in 1998 and was demolished in 2013, which caps its single malt at whatever was already in cask. This single cask was filled in 1990 and bottled by Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers at 30 years old, for its Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask range. Single cask number 7531 yielded 135 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 30 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 41.7%, 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 and fresh orchard fruit. The long maturation draws tannins from the oak, drying the finish into clean wood.