Imperial Whisky
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Imperial was a Speyside single malt distillery at Carron, near the River Spey, founded in 1897 by Thomas Mackenzie of Dailuaine. Its name marked Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, but the distillery’s own history was far from uninterrupted, with long periods of closure and only intermittent production across the twentieth century.
By the time Imperial closed for the final time in 1998, it had remained more familiar to blenders and independent bottlers than to mainstream single malt drinkers. The distillery later passed into the Chivas Brothers portfolio through Pernod Ricard’s acquisition of Allied Domecq, but it was never revived. Imperial was demolished in 2013, and the modern Dalmunach distillery now occupies part of the former site.
Official bottlings of Imperial were always limited, with the 15 Year Old in Allied’s short-lived range among the best-known examples. Most surviving expressions now come from independent bottlers, where older casks have helped build the whisky’s reputation for soft fruit, honey, vanilla, cereal, gentle spice and, with age, more waxy, polished and tropical notes.
Imperial is now a closed chapter in Speyside whisky, but not a forgotten one. Its surviving bottlings offer a glimpse of a distillery that never enjoyed a major single malt spotlight while active, yet has become increasingly valued precisely because its remaining casks are finite.
