Imperial 1995 (Signatory) Review

“The Emperor is Dead, Long Live the Emperor”

Country: Scotland

Region: Speyside

Brand: Imperial 1995 (Signatory Vintage - Cask Strength Selection)

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Age: 16 Years

ABV: 57.8 % 

Colour: Golden Sunlight

Nose: The Alcohol is quite strong so make sure you give this Imperial sufficient time in the glass. The Imperial is Malty and Fruity with Sweet Barley, Butter Kekse, Vanilla, Bee Wax, Toffee, Nuts, Oak, Mango, Pineapple, Nectarine, Red Apple, Melon, Mint and Floral notes. Traces of Bourbon, Ashes and Lemon.

Palate: Strong Delivery thanks to the high ABV. Quite Spicy as well. Less Sweet than the Nose would suggest. I find Sweet Barley, Butter Kekse, Bee Wax, Oak, Nuts, Vanilla, Orange, Nectarine, Licorice, Pepper and Ginger. Traces of Bourbon and Tobacco.

Finish: Too short. It's quite clearly the weakest part of this Imperial. It's Sweet, Spicy and quite Dry towards the end. I find Sweet Barley, Orange, Nectarine, Lemon, Vanilla, Oak, Nuts, light Bourbon, Licorice, Aniseed and Pepper.   

I only had a small sample to begin with and unfortunately I managed to spill most of it over the floor.  So there wasn't enough left to try it with Water as well. Sorry about that!  

Rating: 86

Nose: 22 - Taste: 21.5 - Finish: 21 - Overall: 21.5

General Remarks: The Imperial Distillery was founded in 1897 as a sort of back up to nearby Dailuaine. It already stopped production after 1 year and remained closed until 1919. It was bought by DCL but closed once more in 1925 only to start up again in 1955. In 1965, the production capacity was doubled using Stills that are among the largest in the Speyside area. This made the Distillery quite vulnerable in times of over-supply or lacking demand and in 1985 it closed yet again. Production started again in 1991 but in 1998 the final curtain fell. In 2005, the distillery was bought by Chivas (Pernod Ricard) only to be demolished in 2013. The distillery was located in Carron, four miles South-West of Aberlour.    

The Imperial 1995 I'm tasting today was distilled on the 9th of October 1995 and matured in 2 Hogsheads with Cask # 50322 and 50323. It was bottled without Chill Filtration and at Cask Strength on the 29th of March 2012 by Indie bottler Signatory. This Imperial is naturally coloured. It won't be easy to find and I expect the price to be around 85 US Dollars (September 2015). Samples can still be bought at Master of Malt though.

Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co.Ltd. is an independent bottler, founded in 1988 by Andrew - and Brian Symington. In 2002 they bought the Edradour Distillery.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good.

Conclusion: I wasn't familiar with this Distillery until now and once more, like with the 1993 Tamnavulin I tasted last week, I'm pleasantly surprised. What a pity this Distillery stopped production. Again, the Barley surprises in a positive way and I believe that the Imperial would be a great ingredient for Blends while it holds its ground as a Single Malt as well. A pity that the Finish is too Short. It would also benefit from a slightly lower ABV. Still, I scored the Imperial higher than the Tamnavulin because the latter lacks sufficient balance. The Imperial is better in that respect. Interesting distillery. Will try to find samples of other expressions!

Jan van den Ende                                                            September 21, 2015