some penalties do pass through redirects.
This being said, if you've tried everything to recover the domain but didn't succeed yet then yeah, it's worth trying to salvage it via 301.
But if you've not tried reviving the domain yet then I think you should try that first, just so you don't have to work more. Also, why on Earth have you waited 1.5 years to see whether the domain comes back?? If it doesn't automatically recover within 3 months you should revive it manually, but not after 18 months lol