Littlemill 30 Years Old 1988 Legends (Hart Brothers)

Hart Brothers, a Glasgow family firm, has bottled single casks for over half a century. The cask was filled in 1988 and bottled in 2019, a 30 year old Littlemill, part of the Legends Collection series. With so little ever bottled and no more to come, this sits at the scarce, sought-after end of the market.

Matured in Oloroso, thirty years deepen the silky, floral spirit with the cask.

Bottled undiluted at 51.5%, the sherry cask adds dried fruit and nutmeg. The Lowland softness shows, floral and lightly fruity. Sherry-seasoned oak gives up melanoidins and wood sugars for fig, raisin and nutmeg, the tannins lending a polished, dry backbone. Decades in a damp Lowland warehouse cost roughly two percent a year, alcohol leaving faster than water, softening the strength and deepening the spirit.