Littlemill 26 The Whisky Agency Bottled Letters

I recently had the chance to try a sample of the upcoming Toronto Whisky Society bottling. More on that in the future. Far into the future. Unless you ask or are part of it, then you’ll find out.

So we tried the sample of the bottling, had some excellent snacks (provided by Igor’s wife, who is brilliant at baking), and then some Turkish coffee to clear out the peat we had. I assumed we were good.

But Igor is a good host, and offered to open a nice bottle to celebrate. Thus we Littlemill 26 The Whisky Agency Bottled Letters was opened, given time to open up, and we tried some of this half on half out Lowland.

The reason I call it that is because buying Littlemill is a gambit. Some of them are quite nice. Others? Not so much. This isn’t like buying Brora or St. Magdalene, where you have a pretty good success rate. Littlemill? Not as much.

But I trust what Igor picks, as I typically enjoy what he enjoys, so I didn’t immediately run away like a crazy person. Granted I had taken my medication. I’m pretty sure, at least, I did.

Let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Price: Sold Out?

Region: Lowlands

Vintage: 1989

Bottled: 2015

Age: 26 years

Cask type: Refill Hogshead

Number of bottles: 305

Abv: 51.2%

Colour: 7.5Y 9/8

Nose: Banana bread, lemon drop, grass field, strawberry sugar, lime gelatin, algae, allspice

Initial dank, overripe fruit notes. Nice grass notes, well made, like being in a full grass field. You know, as opposed to those fields with plants that aren’t grass.

Maybe I’ve jumped the shark.

Given time, the fruit/sugar notes subside, there’s some slight spice and a vegetal funk note at the end. Very interesting nose.

Taste: Mineral, rich caramel, ginger, butter, lemon sorbet, cinnamon

Initial mineral notes are quite nice, especially mixed with a very rich caramel flavour. Given some water or time, more butter and creamy lemon notes appear. Like magic. Or science. It’s hard to tell these days.

Spice comes late, like it’s trying to be cool to the party but you know it’s because it’s ex butter was also showing up. Sad, really.

Finish: Lime rind, floral, grass, heather, lemon polished leather, mango, pineapple, butter

More bitter at the end. Almost wish the lime had gone closer to the lemon sorbet from before. The leather note is really quite nice. Probably the highlight of the finish.

Very long finish, I should add.

Conclusion: Each flavour is quite nice, however it never quite hits that “amazing” level. It’s probably the best Littlemill I’ve ever had. It’s rich, has some wonderful butter and funk notes, and there’s a nice spice in the back of your mouth (eye wink).

However it’s never quite hitting those insane mixture of flavours level that I speak of in rhymes. Joking aside, it’s a light, citrus filled, slightly grassy dram. You won’t go wrong picking up a dram of this one. And the finish is my favourite part with the leather note. Yet there’s still room for improvement. Which I hope to find.

85/100

Scotch review #622, Lowland review #32, Whisky Network review #1033