Scotland, Speyside. Distillery closed. Owner: Pernod Ricard.

Founded in 1897 by Thomas Mackenzie (owner of Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd) to provide relief to its close neighbour Dailuaine, Imperial was in production for only a few months from the summer of 1898, before closing in 1899. In the space of just one century, the distillery was closed more often than it was in production. Its malt would be used in leading blends such as Teachers, Long John, Old Smuggler and Ballantine's, leaving little room to develop a range of single malts. Only Allied Distillers, which became the owner in 1989, would offer a 15 year old version in its Special Distillery Bottling range. For the rest, one would need to dig through the stocks of independent bottlers, and yet here also they are generally rare. Imperial is definitively an endangered malt.

A single cask Imperial (#2472) distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2018 for the Single Malts of Scotland range, matured in a bourbon cask. The Single Malts of Scotland was created in 2005 by Elixir Distillers (formerly Specialty Drinks), the independent bottler founded by The Whisky Exchange in 1999. The range features single casks and small batch bottlings. Elixir Distillers’’ other ranges include Elements of Islay and Port Askaig. A limited edition of 215 bottles.