Imperial 1995 van Wees 46%

Distilled 21 August 1995, bottled 8 December 2014 in the van Wees series The Ultimate. Cask number 50168, which was a hogshead.

Nose: Malt, oak, a little black pepper and something fruity, kiwis perhaps. More appley with water, still very obvious oak.

Palate: Oak, vanilla, citrus, some spruce needles. With water still a lot of oak, yellow apples and some gooseberries on the finish.

Comments: A decent Imperial, but it comes across as a little washed out. I suspect it would have done better at a somewhat higher strength.

Thanks to Håvard for the sample.

Imperial 1976 35 years Old Malt Cask 50%

Matured in a refill butt, bottled 2011, DL Ref 7431.

I’m expecting to find this too oaky, considering its age, so let’s see if that’s a self-fulfilling prophesy or not.

imperialsNose: Vanilla and orange peel, malt and melon. With water oak and bitter, dark chocolate. After some time in the glass it develops more fruitiness and I am put in mind of Jucy Fruit chewing gum.

Palate: Tobacco smoke, oak, cinnamon bark. More bitter with water, still with a rather strange smokiness. The bitterness disappears after some time in the glass, but is replaced by something plastic-ish.

Comments: An odd thing. Not too oaky in the way I expected, at least, but still not entirely pleasant.

Thanks to StianT for the sample.