The nose is bold and rich with powdered sugar dusted tropical fruits front and center that fades to mildly sour and sweet red berries with a light touch of sea salt followed by mild pipe smoke, slight rocky minerality and freshly baked pastries followed by dusty old books with low ethanol burn. The taste is a rich oily mouthfeel starting with caramelized tropical fruits with a pinch of cayenne pepper followed by balsamic strawberries and mild pipe tobacco smoke that fades to rocky minerality and charred hay bales that transitions to dusty leather-bound books with medium ethanol burn. The finish is long, leading with a moderate peppery spice that quickly fades to caramelized pineapple and mango that fades to the background of mildly sour red berries before transitioning into mild baking spices and dusty leather-bound books. Overall, this is a rich and phenomenal dram that has an enchanting nose, but the palate has an ever so slightly sourness that throws the balance off for me along with a finish that is a bit too spicy upfront before fading to those well-aged Springbank fruits and dusty books. Side by side with my OB 25-year Springbank (2020), the Impex is bolder and richer, but the OB 25-year comes together with a mild yet flawless balance without any of the jagged edges that seem present in the Impex edition. Personally, I can’t decide which I prefer and am settling on rating them the same score. At over $800, this is a dream dram to try that costs far less than OB 25-year Springbanks today and is up to the discretion of the buyer if it is worthy of the cost or not. Thankfully, this was a sample that was very generously provided by @ShatteredArm for me to try.