Littlemill 1990 SMWS 18 Year Old 97.12

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 1996, bringing an end to its tumultuous story.

These older editions of Scotch Malt Whisky Society hoave developed a bit of a cult status recently especially from distilleries such as the lost Lowland, Littlemill.

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.

A Littlemill distilled in March 1990 and bottled in May 2008.