A 1990 vintage whisky from closed distillery Imperial, bottled by Gordon & Macphail, with a retro distillery label, in 2001. An exciting example of single malt from a sadly closed distillery.

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.

Founded in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail has been bottling single malt whiskies for 120 years and by the 1950's it held the largest range of bottled malt whiskies in the world. This family-run business has bottled the oldest single malt whisky in the world - a Mortlach 1939 75 Year Old - as well as being a distiller itself after buying Benromach in 1993. They bottle whisky across several ranges including Connoisseurs Choice, the Private Collection, and their most exclusive, Generations.

When Gordon & MacPhail were producing official bottlings under license in the 1970s, each distillery was labelled using a specific branding determined by their parent companies, such as DCL, Hiram Walker or Highland Distillers. By the 1980s, single malts were increasing in popularity and Gordon & MacPhail began to create a “house label” for every distillery, each with its own unique style, as is presented here. Although no longer the licensees, Gordon & MacPhail still produce bottles like this for many distilleries today, renamed in 2018 as their Distillery Labels range.