Whisky Guide > Distillery Profiles > Imperial Distillery
Changing Hands
1898 ownership transferred to Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries
1899 Imperial closed
1919 the distillery re-opened until 1925 when
it also passed to new owners – DCL
1955 Under new management SMD, production
recommenced after complete rebuild of equipment, at the same time the gilt
imperial crown was taken down from the malting kiln due to rust
During the 1980s it was silent yet again
1989 Allied Distillers became the new
operators who, after some work, reopened the distillery in 1991
Ronnie MacDonald is, today, the Distillery
Manager at Imperial. He also manages Scapa, 118 miles away, and is involved in
Tormore and Glentauchers distilleries as well. Ronnie has a long history with
the distillery, as his father was also distillery manager at Imperial during
the 1950s and 60s.
As young as six, Ronnie became involved in
the distillery. At the official reopening ceremony in 1955, Ronnie presented Mr
S Grant from Carron House with a bouquet for reopening the distillery.
Ronnie has been the distillery manager for
over four years and has been in the industry since 1969. With advancements in
the operating technology it now only requires nine distillery workers to
operate a five-day production schedule - all nine men work close together with
skills and expertise being shared and passed on.
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