Littlemill 40 Years Old

The Celestial Edition is one of Littlemill's prestige old releases, a 40 Year Old of 250 bottles matured in American oak and ex-Bourbon. Four decades of a light Lowland spirit from a distillery founded in 1772 and lost to fire in 2004.

Forty years is the test of a delicate make: only the gentle, low-tannin American oak let Littlemill survive without drying out, while four decades of slow oxidation built deep fruit and the angel's share claimed well over half the cask, easing and concentrating what remained.

At 46.8% it shows citrus and a faint mineral edge over the worn Lowland softness, lignin vanilla and decades of mellow fruit beneath, the poise of a great age. Two hundred and fifty bottles from a finite legacy. A Celestial 40.