Cadenhead's Littlemill 22 Year Old Whisky Review!

My first Littlemill! This is a dead distillery rarity from the Lowlands region with a long & chequered history. There are still the odd independent bottlings around, but stocks are certainly certainly dwindling. 

Image from whisky.com

Littlemill is one of the lesser-known lost distilleries in Scotch whisky, even among fans of the Lowlands region where only Rosebank & St. Magdalene are held in particularly high esteem. I've previously gone into more detail on these oft-forgotten dead distilleries here, but suffice to say that while most of them were closed for a reason, surviving casks can still be lovely "old school" whiskies here in the modern era. Littlemill distillery dates back to 1772 on the banks of the River Clyde, although records from that time are understandably sketchy, with  the distillery passing through a slew of different owners even following production ceasing in 1992 and it's final decommissioning in 1994. In 1996 the site was sold to property developers who set about dismantling it, and the remaining buildings were destroyed by fire in 2004. The Littlemill brand and the remaining official stock is now owned by Loch Lomond Group, with the most recent release being a 45-year old bottled in 2022 and selling for $11,000 USD. Speaking of which, the owners like to claim that Littlemill was "the oldest distillery in Scotland", which doesn't make sense to me because a) it was dismantled over 25-years ago and completely destroyed a few years later, and b) it's beaten by Glenturret anyway which dates back to 1763 and is still in production. I suppose that erroneous claim helps the LLG marketing department sell their bottlings to unsuspecting buyers, but it's misleading at best. As with many of these lesser-known dead distilleries there is still the occasional independent bottling of Littlemill released, particularly by Cadenhead's, with more reasonable pricing. Independent supplies are dwindling for obvious reasons, but there's no word on how many casks of Littlemill are still out there.

Littlemill practiced triple distillation until 1931 when hybrid pot stills with rectifying heads (pictured below) were installed. These were early precursors to the somewhat-controversial Lomond still which would be invented twenty years later. Like most users of "hybrid" pot stills Littlemill was able to produce multiple styles of spirit; the lighter and unpeated namesake Littlemill, a heavier lightly peated "Dunglass", and a heavily peated "Dumbuck". These were only produced until the 1970s, and most was sold to blenders of course, so single malt examples are extremely rare now. The use of hybrid stills that were similar to Lomond stills - a.k.a. "straight-necked pot stills" - and multiple spirit types will probably remind you of Loch Lomond Distillery, which as it happens is where the Littlemill stills wound up when the distillery was dismantled. Littlemill was located only eight miles away from Loch Lomond Distillery, albeit on opposite sides of the Highland line, with the former being a Lowland distillery and the latter a Highland. These similarities aren't too surprising though, because Loch Lomond Distillery was actually built by the company which owned Littlemill at the time, in 1966. A couple of interesting factoids here; Littlemill was the first Scotch whisky distillery to be licensed to a woman, Jane MacGregor, from 1823-1839, and in 1840 the distillery was sold to Hector Henderson, who would go on to build Caol Ila in 1846. 

The Littlemill we're looking at today is a 22-year old independent bottling from Cadenhead's, Batch code 14/392, distilled in 1992 and bottled in 2014. It was matured in ex-bourbon hogsheads, and 558 bottles were released at a cask strength of 53.7% ABV without chill filtration or added colouring. This bottling was part of Cadenhead's "Small Batch" series of cask strength bottlings which were sadly discontinued and superseded by the 46% ABV "Original Collection" series a few years ago. The sample for this review came from a very generous friend over in New Zealand who managed to get the bottle for a reasonable price at auction, and then opened it to help celebrate her recent birthday. Tasting a single malt from a dead distillery is certainly a great way to mark any occasion! While we've exchanged samples a few times now we've never actually met in person, so sharing such a special whisky like this with me is greatly appreciated. With a premise like that, and with this being my first Littlemill, I obviously had to review it! I know I've almost pigeonholed myself with the title of this blog, but I do also love unpeated malts, especially a St. Magdalene / Linlithgow or a Rosebank when it comes to the Lowlands region - when I've been lucky enough to taste them. I'm expecting this Littlemill will be right up there as well. Let's see how it goes!

Cadenhead's Littlemill 22-year old, 53.7%. Lowlands, Scotland.

Distilled 1992, matured in ex-bourbon hogsheads, bottled 2014 at cask strength. Batch code 14/392, 558 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Full gold.

Nose: Creamy, citric, grassy. Freshly cut damp grass, milk bottle lollies, rich tea biscuits (with currants). Lime cordial, the natural sort (e.g. Bickford's), and a touch of candle wax. White pepper, lemon peel, and green apple coming through with more time. Touches of concrete dust & baking spices around the edges. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Rich, spicy, grassy, citric. Slight heat but very pleasant. 

Taste: Malty & grassy entry. Black pepper here, and more rich tea biscuits (with currants). Lime cordial, candle wax, and milk bottle lollies again. Dry grass / hay now, and more baking spices and dried fruit coming through - dried lemon peel, and currants again. 

Finish: Medium-long length. Lime cordial, black pepper, baking spices, dried lemon peel & currants. Buttery pastry and a touch of creamy white chocolate, before pencil shavings, cut grass & white pepper round things out. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Very interesting, and very enjoyable! Much more richly flavoured & oily than I expected. We're still in the Lowlands with that grassy & malty backbone, but there's a richer texture and a great complexity in this Littlemill and I certainly wouldn't call it "clean" or "light". Quite an unusual flavour & aroma combination as well, particularly on the nose in fact. That citrus tang is great, lime cordial & dried lemon peel, and a very nice malty & creamy profile. It's certainly very different from the St. Magdalene / Linlithgow that I've been lucky enough to try, and Rosebank as well for that matter - although you'd expect that with the triple distillation. This is much richer, heavier, oilier, and it's very tasty! We're certainly going to miss these cask strength Cadenhead's bottlings that we used to take for granted before they were taken from us. I think there might be a song lyric in there somewhere... 

Thanks to the owner for sending the sample over!

Cheers!