Littlemill - The forgotten pioneer of the Lowlands

Littlemill claims a special place in whisky history as one of Scotland's oldest licensed distilleries. Founded back in 1772, the distillery made whisky history in the Lowlands before closing its doors for good in 1994. Littlemill thus left behind a legacy of rare and sought-after whiskies that are among the most valuable collector's items today.

The distillery was often ahead of its time - it experimented with light, unpeated malts as well as smoky variants and was one of the first to launch its own distillery bottling series. Littlemill whiskies are characterised by their elegant Lowland character: floral notes of peach and apple, underpinned by delicate spices and a fresh citrus note. Special bottlings such as the Littlemill 29 Year Old show how this character develops into honey-sweet complexity with long maturation.

Despite its closure, the Littlemill legend lives on. The surviving casks are guarded like treasures by connoisseurs, while the distillery buildings are now listed buildings. Current bottlings of old stocks - such as the "Littlemill Private Cellar Edition" - regularly fetch five-figure sums at auction.

Littlemill epitomises the ephemeral poetry of the whisky world: a distillery that created great things but did not survive, and whose legacy became all the more valuable. Each bottle tells of the innovative tradition of the Lowlands - a whisky that is even more fascinating in its absence.