Littlemill Single Malt Whisky

LittlemillSingle Malt Whisky

Converted in 1772 from a 1750s brewery, Littlemill is another lost Lowlands distillery, having been located in West Dunbartonshire.

The license was acquired in the 1820s, but there are claims that distilling was taking place on the site as early as the 14th century, which would have made it one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland.

Littlemill changed hands many times in its long life and between 1825-39 was the property of one Jane McGregor, one of the earliest female distillers. It was rebuilt in 1875 by the then-owner William Hay and later had its stills modified to include a rectification columnby another owner, Duncan Thomas, who was seeking to createa spirit that was faster-maturing and more versatile. Littlemill practised triple distillation (like most other Lowland malts) until the 1930s, when it was switched to double distillation.

As well as 'Littlemill', the distillery also made malts called 'Dumbuck' (which was heavily peated) and 'Dunglas' (lightly peated) as experiments in the 1960s. There have been a couple of bottlings of the latter, including one by ourselves several years ago.

Sadly, the distillery fell on hard times during the 1980s and was silent for a time. Re-opening after a management buy-out in 1988, it fell silent in 1994. The warehouses were demolished in 1995 and in 2004 a fire destroyed most of the rest of the distillery. The remaining buildings were levelled in 2006.

Littlemill's attractive, floral malt was bottled as an 8 year-old in earlier incarnations, but the official bottling is now a 12 year-old. It is believed that reasonably good stocks are still available for bottling, although that quantity is obviously now finite and will be used up eventually.