PBMichiganWolverine
Imperial 1995 20 Year (The Ultimate)
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
July 26, 2018 (edited September 25, 2018)
Darwin’s law at full display again...another closed distillery, another “meh, not worth the price” dram. This was one of my offerings for an optional closed distillery as part of our SDT final round. I’m starting to learn that most of these closed distilleries closed during the economic downturn for a reason...they sucked. It’s like being the worst player on the Golden State Warriors. Sure, you’ll get a championship ring too, courtesy of Curry and team. But, if you get transferred to the Knicks...you’re toast. Same goes for these closed distilleries. During boom times (now), even bad distilleries do well. But, during bust, the bad ones are the first to go. A few exceptions can be made of course ( Brora, Karuizawa, Hanyu), but by large most of the closed distilleries closed in the economic downturn because no one would buy their products when a better one was available at the same price. This one here is just ‘meh’. Typical butter biscuits on the nose, with a follow up of shortbread on the palette. Nothing complex or amazing, as you’d sort of expect when forking over Macallan style cash.
200.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@cascode - true, but there’s a fine line between broken-in and broken-down. :)
@Rick_M Oh, I don't know. It has a sort of funky rustic-farmhouse charm about it that is kind of appealing after you've been to a string of modern, glitzy glass and polished metal visitor "experiences". That said, I would like to see the new Macallan bunker :)
@LeeEvolved - yes, Diageo needs to open their wallet. Lagavulin’s visitor center could use an upgrade.
@PBMichiganWolverine @Rick_M - when the SDT returns it’ll be like the Bond 007 movies- there’ll be a new guy playing the lead, more exotic locations and hotter chics. @Generously_Paul is the new leader and we will be traveling to Scotland to stop the evil Diageo from ruining more classic malts.
@Rick_M I’ve been trying to convince @LeeEvolved to start the next SDT as ‘ bottom shelf less than $10 flavored whiskey and moonshine”. I’m out though...but I think @Generously_Paul wants in ☺️🤮
@PBMichiganWolverine - I wanna be part of the next “SDT of high-end whiskies.” :)
Yes you are right in that it's a factor however from what I've read, the situation seemed a bit more complicated than just how good they were. There was the factor of blending and with conglomerations often owning a large range of distilleries, it was often about economies of scale and other factors to support keeping blends financially viable or get the most bang for $. Also there were trends e.g. peated whiskey fell out of favour so what went - Port Ellen the smallest. In the really bad times even the great fell. By 1933 only 2 malt distilleries remained in Scotland in Ireland it went from 88 to a few at one point - it required a healthy dose of luck and other factors to be one of the chosen few %. It'll be interesting to see in the next shake out how brutal it is and who falls but were prob not going to see the viciousness of earlier cycles I think.