Littlemill Distillery Cask Reflections Collection Whisky Review
The Littlemill Distillery Cask Reflections Collection has just been announced. This new annual collection honours the innovative past of the Littlemill distillery and starts with Cask Reflections Release No.1. Philip Day provides an overview of this must-try whisky.
Littlemill Distillery – honouring its innovative past
A new annual collection has been announced by Littlemill, which draws on the treasured remaining liquid of Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery with a series of rare cask finishes, honouring its innovative past.
The Cask Reflections Collection will revive the past like never before in the history of Littlemill, honouring tradition yet embracing innovation, with re-crafted flavours and finishes to create a remarkable fusion of different eras for the modern day.
Littlemill Distillery Cask Reflections Release No.1 – aged for 33 years
The first release, Cask Reflections Release No.1, has been aged for 33 years and was initially stored in refill bourbon barrels, followed by a four-month finish in the highly sought-after Japanese Mizunara oak casks.
Japanese Mizunara oak is the innovative selection of Littlemill Master Blender, Michael Henry, who used his unrivalled knowledge of the liquid, which has quietly laid for over three centuries, to find the perfect marriage of flavours, to enrich the delicate tasting profile of Littlemill’s signature summertime notes.
The result being a fusion of flavours from different eras for the modern day: a fragrant whisky carefully rich in sandalwood spice, perfectly completing the floral elderflower and fruit of the Lowland malt.
Littlemill Distillery – founded in 1772
Founded in 1772 in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Littlemill was at the forefront of whisky innovation for its time. It closed in 1994 before it was tragically lost to a fire in 2004. Since this time, Michael Henry has guarded the precious remaining casks.
Of this latest release, Michael Henry, Master Blender at Loch Lomond Group, owners of Littlemill, said:
The Cask Reflection Collection will revive the spirit of discovery associated with Littlemill’s founding years and subsequent boom. We have worked to honour the liquid, enhancing its delicate Lowland qualities with the fascinating traits of the Japanese Mizanura oak.
Mizunara oak takes time to grow and only yields a small amount of wood annually. Like Littlemill, it is rare. The staves are thick and porous, imparting flavour at a much greater pace, which requires my keenest attention and care to ensure the finish doesn’t overpower what would have been the distillery character.
The stakes are high when you’re responsible for a liquid this finite, but the result is an exquisite start to this journey of Cask Reflections – one that I feel very fortunate to be able to undertake on behalf of those who came before me.”
Nick Bradley, Prestige Portfolio Manager at Loch Lomond Group, owners of Littlemill, added:
What precious Littlemill casks remain now fall under the care of Michael; with over 30 years’ experience, no one has such intimate appreciation of Littlemill’s style, and how best to preserve it.
Cask Reflections is a revival of the past while looking at Littlemill through a new lens. The goal is to maintain the essence of what made our Lowland malt so distinctive but now re-crafting it with new and previously unexplored cask finishes to provide an entirely new dimension to the whisky, which even the most avid of collectors and whisky enthusiasts won’t have experienced before.
This is rare whisky that deserves to be open and enjoyed; to experience the level thought and craft of Michael and to taste something truly exceptional. It is our homage to that enduring spirit of discovery that defined Littlemill’s leaders over two and a half centuries.”
Littlemill Distillery Cask Reflections Release No.1 – price and availability
Only 570 bottles of Cask Reflections Release No.1 are available worldwide, priced at £3,800.
Bottled at cask strength, the liquid (49.1% ABV, natural colour) is presented in the traditional Littlemill-style decanter from Glencairn Crystal, and housed in a beautiful wooden display box with etchings inspired by Japanese art.
Cask Reflections Release No.1 is available from 12th of September, initially exclusively from specialist wine and spirits merchant, Berry Bros. and Rudd, before becoming available for wider purchase via the Littlemill website and other specialist retailers from the 24th of September.
For further information and to enquire, visit www.littlemilldistillery.com
Littlemill Distillery Cask Reflections Release No.1 – Tasting Notes
- Nose: Fragrant sandalwood spice, green apple, elderflower.
- Palate: Honey sweetness, green apple, kiwi fruit, vanilla and cinnamon.
- Finish: Long with lime citrus and warming oak spice.
About Littlemill Distillery
The Littlemill distillery was established in 1772 on the site of an old brewery that had been founded during the 14th century in Bowling on the banks of the River Clyde near Glasgow.
It is rumoured that illicit distilling had taken place there since 1750 when the site was bought by George Buchanan, a malt master, and according to the renowned whisky historian and writer Misako Udo in her book ‘The Scotch Whisky Distilleries’, distilling may have taken place there for centuries before.
After one year, on the 2nd of November 1773, local Justice of the Peace records for Dumbarton show that ‘Robert Muir of Littlemiln’, an employee, was granted the first-ever license by the Government of King George III to “…retail ale, beer and other excisable Liquors”, thus making Littlemill Scotland’s first and oldest licensed distillery.
In 1931 Littlemill led whisky still innovation whereby its innovative design could create three styles of spirit under the stewardship of the American Duncan Thomas, including the light fruit-forward triple-distilled character Littlemill is most known for today. It was these stills that inspired the stills that remain in place at Loch Lomond Distillery today.
Littlemill fell into perpetual silence in 1994 and then the distillery was destroyed by fire in 2004. The remaining casks have since been under the care of Loch Lomond Distillery, stored just a short distance from where the original distillery once stood.
In 2015 Loch Lomond Group released a limited number of its Littlemill Private Cellar Edition. Since then, a mere handful of bottles have been released annually, which have become sought after by collectors and whisky enthusiasts around the world.
References
The press release and images were kindly provided by BIG Partnership on behalf of Littlemill Distillery