Littlemill 1965-1997 - 31 Year Old - Signatory Vintage Silent Stills - Single Cask 5273 - Miniature

Littlemill was a Lowland distillery that until its closure in 1992 was Scotland’s oldest distillery, having been founded around 1772. After switching from triple distillation in the 1930s, Littlemill operated with a single pair of hybrid pot/column stills, and for a time the experimental malts Dumbuck and Dunglass were produced alongside Littlemill’s standard spirit. 

After a hiatus in the 1980s, Littlemill closed permanently in 1992 when the owners went bankrupt. The distillery was subsequently sold to Glen Catrine, who relocated the hybrid stills to their Loch Lomond distillery in 1997 and continue to steward Littlemill’s remaining stocks, releasing some very impressive long-aged official bottlings in the last few years. There are also some excellent independent bottlings of Littlemill from the likes of Gordon & MacPhail and Cadenhead’s. 

Sadly, Littlemill’s remaining buildings were destroyed by arsonists in 2004, shortly after the site had been acquired by Newstead Properties, a housing developer.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.