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.

An Imperial 16 year old distilled in 1995, matured in bourbon casks and bottled in 2011 by The Whisky Agency. The Whisky Agency is a German independent bottler founded by Carsten Ehrlich, who is also behind the Limburg Whisky Fair. The Whisky Agency has bottled many high-flying single casks for various collections, including Liquid sun, The Perfect Dram, Private Stock and Liquid Library, often in collaboration with other players in the world of spirits. A limited edition of 194 bottles.