Imperial 1995 G&M Review

Hi everyone,

Imperial is one of those closed distilleries that’s never quite achieved the same level of hype as others and prices have stayed pretty reasonable. That’s despite it being closed 1985-1989 and 1998, finally being demolished in 2013 only to have Dalmunach built right on top of it in 2014. Although to be fair it’s cool looking with that glass.

Only being closed in the late 90’s also means that there’s a bit more stock than Brora or Port Ellen, and of the stocks left, the most coveted are the 95’s. I don’t know why, but it seems similar to 97 Clynelish. They were just making some great whisky that year.

Gordon & MacPhail seem to still have quite a lot of the stuff, because they’re still releasing it under their ‘distillery labels’ series.

 

Imperial 1995 G&M 43%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Red apple, oak, old warehouse and dunnage, iron, almost blood-like! Which is very unique. Grapefruit and white pepper. Great nose.

Taste: Sweet orange, old, complex oak, musty dunnage, grapefruit, lime peel, a little iron and blood. Great balance of the old, musty oak and the fresh grapefruit.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Spiced orange, but a bit flat unfortunately.

Bottled 2014 from Sherry Butts. Great, great whisky until the finish. Really lets this down unfortunately, but I’m really impressed by what I’ve tried from Imperial so far.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #522

Whisky Network Review #615

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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