Imperial 1990 SMWS 30 Year Old 65.7

Built in the last years on the 19th century, Imperial is a distillery with a sadly chequered history, spending almost as much time in mothballs as it did distilling. Its longest period of production came between 1955 and 1985 under the ownership of DCL (now Diageo). Allied Distillers bought it in 1989, opening it again two years later, but only for another seven. It was under their tenure that the only distillery bottling of its single malt appeared, but thankfully a number of increasingly sought after independent releases like this have been produced over the years. Imperial was demolished in 2013 and the site now houses the new distillery, Dalmunach.

This is an Imperial distilled in November 1990 and matured for 30 years by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

One of 188 bottles drawn from refill ex-bourbon barrel.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.