Imperial isn’t exactly the best word to use in this situation being such a common term for high proof beer. Add that to the vague branding and Sazerac being explicit and this is essentially just some off-brand scotch. This is the moment we’d love dearly to tell you it’s akin to an Ezra Brooks story, but it’s not. This isn’t good.
The simplest way to explain our reasoning here is to ask why does this exist? It’s not terribly expensive and able to make a huge profit. Nor does it have a heritage to back it up. All we have is another subpar whiskey, and a sad review.
What they Say: “Product of Scotland. We love to hear from our customers. 1-866-729-3722. www.sazerac.com. info@sazerac.com”
Taste: 5.0 – Big heat (not peat) and wood flavor with almost a bit of some sort of nut going on. It’s not stellar though.
Aftertaste: 6.0 – There’s some nice heat and smoke on the backend that lingers for a bit. This fares better than initial taste, but not by much. It is overall simply okay.
Burn/Smooth: 6.5 – That heat means it’s not exactly smooth, but this doesn’t really burn, and the warmth is arguably the best part of this so far.
Aroma: 4.5 – It’s not bad, or good, or strong, or complex – it simply is. Not even in a scotch-brand scotch sort of way. It is simply the most inoffensive beige smell possible.
Honesty: 5.0 – They say little, and even give a phone number to hear from customers so like – good on them. The look is actually quite fine, but this simply being called ‘Imperial’ and being an otherwise no-name sazerac brand doesn’t endear it many points.
Mixability: 4.5
W/ Rocks: 3.0 – It chills it, but then also sucks out nearly all of the good. There’s a whiff of its former self in a way here, but no thanks.
Rusty Nail: 6.0 – That is, better. Objectively the bit of Drambuie even in a smaller ratio still overpowers much of the whiskey, but there’s a foundation there to fight back. Subjectively though it’s only marginally worth reasoning for this existing.
Value: 3.5 – That is in that cheap price range where you can find many others – which isn’t a boon since those at least have some character (a flawed character, but nonetheless). So we fall back to the old standby, would we buy this again, and should you? No.
Google Shop Average: $21
Website: http://www.sazerac.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 5.0
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Metric Score: 35/70 |+| Metric Average: 5.0 |+| Reviewer Average: 5.0
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Final Thoughts: Well it’s a fine start we guess to the new year, proving once again our tireless mission to discern the great from the bad in an effort to get you, dear reader, to branch out from the usual faire, but maybe not as far as we do.
