ImpEx Beverage Talks Single Casks with Bourbon Lens

In the latest Whiskey Lens episode, Jake Lewellen sits down with ImpEx Beverage’s Sam Filmus to explore how independent bottlers are reshaping American access to rare Scotch, tasting a Teaninich and a cask-strength Ardmore along the way.

Bourbon Lens’s Whiskey Lens series continues with Episode 3, a deep dive into independent bottling and single casks featuring Sam Filmus, founder of ImpEx Beverage. Host Jake Lewellen and Filmus explore how independent bottlers let whiskey drinkers taste expressions that never appear in a distillery’s standard lineup — and how that category has grown from a hard sell into a thriving corner of the Scotch world.

Filmus traces his path into the business, starting with an ethnic import company in California before pivoting into mainstream whiskey categories, including early work with independent bottlers like Signatory and Gordon MacPhail. He recalls how confusing the concept was to buyers in the early 2000s, when a bottle wouldn’t carry a distillery’s standard branding.

“What single cask is about” is a concept Filmus says still requires explaining to newcomers, even as the category — now including Impex alongside names like Lost Lantern and Single Cask Nation — has become far more mainstream.

The conversation turns personal when Filmus shares the Impex bottling that means the most to him: a 25-year-old Springbank, originally a private cask bottled at 23 and a half years old, that he sent to Exclusive Malts’ David Stirk for an additional year and a half of sherry cask finishing.

“It’s a passion project for me,” Filmus said of his approach to sourcing and curating each annual Impex edition, which he builds around a distinct theme each year — from single malts across Scotland’s regions to grain whisky and blended malt.

Tasting Teaninich and Ardmore

Jake and Filmus taste two Impex selections on the episode: an 11-year Teaninich, a clean, Highland-distilled malt with a backstory involving a distillery founder nicknamed the “Blind Captain,” and a 14-year cask-strength Ardmore. The Ardmore tasting opens into a broader conversation about peat, with Filmus explaining the difference between drier, sweeter Highland peat and the more medicinal, maritime style associated with Islay whiskies.

Asked to sum up how to describe unfamiliar flavor notes to listeners, Filmus kept it simple: “The real answer is in the glass.”

How to Find ImpEx Bottlings

Filmus notes that Impex’s releases are tightly allocated, given the limited output of a single cask, and encourages interested drinkers to reach out directly to find a retailer carrying the brand in their state.

The full episode, including the complete tasting notes and cask-sourcing discussion, is available now on Bourbon Lens’s YouTube and podcast channels.

https://youtu.be/GhPaCIic6No

Story via Bourbon Lens | Bourbon Lens News