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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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December 22, 2021 |
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Imperial like crazy |
Imperial Distillery in 2011 (Andrew Wood) |
To us Frenchmen, Imperial can only refer to our last emperor, Napoléon III, who wasn't exactly 'a sword', as we say in French. Only our friends across the Channel could have both an empire and a queen or a king. Strange… Anyway, there was also an Imperial Distillery, which stopped producing in 1998 and was subsequently demolished in 2013, before Chivas/Pernod built a new Distillery, Dalmunach, on its very site. Let's have a few Imperials if you please, totally at random. |
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Imperial 25 yo 1996/2021 (53.6%, Watt Whisky, refill barrel) 
I might be wrong, but I have the impression that bottlers who are located in the UK are fonder of Imperial than the ones who are established elsewhere. A matter of nostalgia? Colour: gold. Nose: I believe the word perfect has different meanings, but English is only my second language, if not my third one. This, is perfect, it's got malt, barley, cake, all pastries, wines and meads and beers, plus this slight earthiness that will always enhance any whisky. With water: just perfect. A fresh panettone, while I'm a sucker for panettone. They'll soon call me Mr Panettone at home. Mouth (neat): undisputable. Overripe apples, IPAs, mangos, preserved apricots, acacia honey, great chardonnay. We would even describe it as being 'Meursaulty', even if we won't mention Coche or the Counts. Well we just did. With water: even better. Oranges and peppered tangerines or something. Finish: long and chalkier, tenser, even more lemony. Comments: wine whisky. I mean, whisky for wine people. Now remind me where that Masai emblem on the label came from?
SGP:651 - 90 points. |
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Imperial 23 yo 1997/2020 (45.4%, The Single Malts of Scotland, for the USA, barrel, cask #2798, 151 bottle) 
In theory, this should be quick. Elixir/TSMOS are Imperial specialists. Colour: light gold. Nose: acacia honey and mango chutney, then maple syrup and beeswax. There's nothing you can do against this profile, just bow and say your prayers. Mouth: heather honey, orange cordial, dough, fresh panettone, barley syrup, crushed bananas, all that at a perfect strength that doesn't even call for water. Vittel is getting expensive! Finish: medium, honeyed, a tad waxy. Comments: the Watt was a tad more tense and nervous, thus deserved one extra-point in my book. But this quasi-fruit-bomb is just absolutely superb too.
SGP:641 - 89 points. |
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Imperial 24 yo 1996/2020 (54.6%, Single Cask Nation, bourbon barrel, cask #3420, 184 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: what happened to Scotland in 1996? A comet? Did the Sun Ra Arkestra tour the country? The Stranglers? Did aliens take over the distilleries? Why are all these malt whiskies so good? Do vintage effects actually exist in whisky? When was the barley actually harvested, in 1995 or in 1996?... And where? … … I say those are the issues whisky youtubers should be busy with! Vanilla, honey, all-vitamin fruit juice, mead, nougat, etc. With water: same. Very nice. Mouth (neat): brilliant, malty, brioche-y, with some banana jam and just, indeed, a large fresh panettone. I believe I need to go see a shrink so that he/she would de-panettone-ise me. With water: raisin rolls and a drop of triple-sec blended with mint cream. Otherwise more honeys, earl grey… Peach skins too. Finish: same notes for a long time and a leafier and more tea-ish aftertaste. Comments: just between us, I wouldn't have demolished the Distillery, even if I'm sure they were having 'very good reasons'. High marks.
SGP:651 - 88 points. |
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Imperial 22 yo 1998/2020 (52.1%, Chapter 7, bourbon barrel, cask #104355, 218 bottles)
From the last year, sniff-sniff… Colour: straw. Nose: some fresher fruits, perhaps some melons, vanilla, whiffs of cellulose (varnish), peaches, bananas… This is a little different. With water: still a little varnishy and even waxy. Lovely fresh barley, grist, ground grains of all sorts, beers… Mouth (neat): hypra-good, earthier, as if the cask had been used for a light peater before. You never know. This gives this baby a pleasant Ardmore-y side, then peaches indeed, melons, prickly pears, honey… With water: fruit peelings, leaves, softer bitters… Water really made it change direction. Some slightly medicinal smoke for sure – where did that come from? Finish: long and even smokier. Ardmore-y indeed. Lemon foam (really?) Comments: a different, tighter Imperial. The thing is, I like it just as much.
SGP:461 - 88 points. |
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Imperial 21 yo 1997/2019 (49.6%, Elixir Distillers, Whisky Trail, retro label, cask #2471, 169 bottles)
Late as ever indeed, but why retro label? All whiskies are going retro anyway, if not retro-futuristic, are they not? Granted, just not the ones for China… (Paco Rabanne and Givenchy, get ready!) Colour: straw. Nose: honey, barley syrup, biscuits, old champagne, mead, sweet bitters (amer bière, Picon, stuff like that). Mouth: naturally. Very good, peach skins, apples, prickly pears, IPA, high-level cider, mead, touches of beeswax, citrons. Finish: medium fresh, citrusy, waxy and earthy in the aftertaste. Comments: I particularly liked this one. Indeed, late as ever.
SGP:551 - 89 points. |
I'm afraid this is all going to be a 88-90 thing. Unless we would try to go a bit down the vintages… |
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Imperial 28 yo (40.8%, Elixir Distillers, Marriage, 600 bottles, 2020) 
Possibly a marriage of convenience, according to the strength here. Perhaps one or two wizened old casks that were in the need of some doping-up? Indeed no less than five barrels have been married together here – but that may work, just ask Springbank. Colour: light gold. Nose: mead and vanilla, then pear and apple ciders, then old cellar and moist old magazines. Say The New Yorker. Mouth: just very good. Some greenish oak for sure, hashish, banana skins, mead again, fruit peelings… Now it does tend to become a little tea-ish, rather with green tea. Finish: short to medium, green, tea-ish, leafy. A green tannicity. Comments: the limitations of this exercise, I would suppose. Really good and certainly not a wet noodle, but not quite my favourite. Ha, marriage!
SGP:461 - 82 points. |
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Imperial 24 yo 1995/2020 (51.5%, Elixir Distillers, The Single Malts of Scotland, bourbon, cask #7854, 127 bottles)
A tiny outturn but hurray, it made it to France! Colour: white wine. Nose: pristine, almost crystalline waxy and doughy arrival, then porridge, wool and fermenting chalk. Oh come on, I know perfectly well that chalk wouldn't ferment, that was a figure of speech. With water: chalk and plasticine. Mouth (neat): fantastic waxiness ala Clynelish and grapefruits. Enough said. With water: bing and bang (are you all right, S.?) Finish: long and more vertical than the Empire State Building. Comments: exactly my kind. I suppose it's sold-out; what is this society coming to?
SGP:551 - 90 points. |
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Imperial 25 yo 1995/2020 (48.2%, LMDW, Artist #10, hogshead, cask #50270, 197 bottles) 
Came with a lovely Rothko-y label. Indeed we're late, once again. Colour: straw. Nose: a similar chalky arrival, then waxes and oils of all kinds, including mint oil, but also rather a lot of woody elements, eucalyptus wood, teak, thuja, taxus… It'll happen on the palate, I would suppose… Mouth: thick, tight, and this time, Sancerry rather than Meursaulty. One day, my wine friends will execute me in the public square, forcing me to down 10cl of a Macallan finished for three weeks in PX! Now this little imperial is excellent and would tend to become more piney over time. Finish: rather long but maybe a little too green, gingery… The wood really starts to feel. Comments: upper-echelon Imperial for sure, it's just lacking the fruity brightness that others would have had.
SGP:461 - 85 points. |
Let's call this a proper Imperial session, and please allow me to bow out… |
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