Littlemill 19 Year Old SMWS 97.19 75cl / US Import

Littlemill was one of Scotland's oldest distilleries in its time, with distilling rumoured to have taken place there as far back as the late 18th century. It has a turbulent history of ownership changes and mothballings, as well as briefly experimenting with producing lightly and heavily peated single malts called Dunglass and Dumbuck, respectively. Barton Brands, the owners at the time, called a halt to these in 1971 however. The distillery closed again for a time in the 1980s, with its stills falling silent for the final time in 1994. The distillery buildings were then lost in a fire in 2004, bringing an end to its tumultuous story.

This Littlemill was matured in a single first-fill bourbon barrel for 19 years. It was bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society for the American market.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.

One of 80 bottles.