Imperial whisky distillery

Imperial was one of Scotlands most unlucky distilleries spending more than half of her life closed, decades as a floor maltings only operation and ultimatley looted for scrap before being unceremoniouslt demolished. Completed a mere 18 months before the Pattison whisky crisis Imperial remained closed for the next 20 years, production finally resumed for less than 6 years before she was again mothballed and maintained as floor maltings for the next 30 years.

In 1952 Imperial along with Aultmore became the first distillery to convert the spent pot ale and draff left overs to animal feed, a process which became virtually universal until the introduction of bio fuels, the heralded the longest run in Imperial’s history lasting almost 30 years during which the distilelry was connected to the grid, production doubled and floor maltings installed

Alas the 1980s whisky surplus rolled along and again Imperial had to shut her doors, changing hands first to United Distillers and then again to Allied Distillers Imperial again came online and Allied released the only official bottling in the distilleries history. She closed her doors for the final time on St Andrews day 1998 changed hands once more and then was finally demolised to make way for the new Dalmunach distillery over 6 times her size, only a few warehouses remain today

The distilleries only official bottling is painfully hard to come by but well worth trying, as are the range of independant bottlings that occasionally pop up, prices have finally started their northward climb on the auction sites so if you can, do get them while they last.

Imperial factsheet

Name	Pronounced	AKA	Region
Imperial	im*perial		Speyside
Country of Origin	Status	Active	Whisky Type
Scotland	Lost	1897 - 1998	Malt
Website	Tours Available	Owned by	Parent Group
Imperial	Not Available	Chivas Brothers Ltd

Imperial equipment & site

Site	Demolished

Imperial Timeline:

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1897Founded by Thomas Mackenzie who had substantial interests in the Dailuaine and Talisker Distilleries, designed to be fire resistant by famed architect Charles Doig from Elgin
1898Transferred to Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd.
1899After only 18 months of operation the distillery closed, in large part due to the demand drop off caused by the Pattison whisky crisis
1916Imperial was bought by a consortium of DCL (Distillers Company Limited), W.P. Lowrie, Johnnie Walker and Dewar's.
1919Production was resumed
1925The 'Big Three' blenders merge with DCL and mothball the distillery, for the next 30 years Imperial operates purely as a maltings
1952DCL begin to experiment with 'dark grains' production at Imperial and Aultmore Distillery, the protein-rich draff and pot ale animal feed is wildly popular
1954The turbine in Ballintom Burn becomes redundant as the distillery is connected to the grid
1955Under the management of DCL subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. (SMD) Imperial is rebuilt and reopened
1965Enlarged from two to four stills, Saladin maltings are installed and the stills are converted to mechanical coal stokers
1969The stills shift to steam heating
1985The distillery's longest run of 30 years of operation ends and Imperial is closed by DCL before being sold to United Distillers
1989The distillery is acquired by Allied Distillers and resumes production but the onsite maltings are closed
1998The distillery is Mothballed on St Andrews day
2000The distillery is officially closed by Allied Domecq and applications were filed and granted by Moray Council for both demolition and the construction of housing
2005Imperial is bought by Chivas Brothers (a part of Pernod Ricard) instructions to estate agents, Bell Ingram, to sell Imperial for redevelopment were withdrawn
2013Having spent less than half of its life in operation and with her stills having been stripped for parts, Imperial is demolished
2015At 10 million litres a year capacity the new distillery, Dalmunach, dwarfs the 1.6 million capacity of the former Imperial