Imperial

Imperial was built in 1897 at Carron, on the River Spey, and took its name from the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. A crown long sat on top of its kiln roof. Its history was marked by long periods of closure, and it fell silent for the last time in 1998.

The buildings were later demolished, and Chivas Brothers built the new Dalmunach distillery on the site, opening in 2015. That makes Imperial a closed distillery, and remaining stocks are becoming scarcer and older.

Imperial had large stills and made a fruity, sweet, sometimes waxy malt that was used mostly for blending. Official bottlings were rare, so most bottles a buyer meets come from independent bottlers.

In our catalogue these include Signatory Vintage, Gordon & MacPhail, Speciality Drinks' Single Malts of Scotland, Berry's Own, Càrn Mòr's Celebration of the Cask, Hunter Laing's Old & Rare, Duncan Taylor and That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Many are from the mid-1990s vintages.