Littlemill 1988-2014 - 25 Year Old - Berry Bros & Rudd - Single Cask 57

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.

Founded in 1698, Berry Bros. & Rudd is the UK’s oldest wine and spirit merchant, with their iconic premises in St. James’ Street in London an institution in the drinks trade. Berry Brothers were among the first English merchants to bottle bespoke whiskies for sale in the 19th century and in 1923 they launched the Cutty Sark blended whisky which went on to great success in the United States in the post-Prohibition era.

Berry Bros continued to bottle single malt whiskies after WWII, with notable examples from Longmorn, Macallan, Glen Grant and Laphroaig (among others) occasionally cropping up at auction today. Since the late 1990s the company has expanded its spirits operations, briefly owned the rights to the Glenrothes single malt brand after selling Cutty Sark in 2010, and now have an adventurous range of expertly-selected single malts, blended malt whisky and rums.