Littlemill 34 Years Old 1988 Legends (Hart Brothers)

Glasgow's Hart Brothers has released single-cask Scotch since the 1960s. This 34 year old Littlemill came off the stills in 1988 and was bottled in 2023, from the Legends Collection range. An outturn this small from a distillery that closed in 1994 puts it among the rarest Lowland whisky still available.

Aged thirty-four years in ex-Bourbon, the oak lifts its buttery, honeyed Lowland style.

At 50.5%, undiluted, a vanilla sweetness comes from the bourbon cask. Expect cooked fruit, leather, a nutty note, old wood, tobacco. American oak is low in tannin, so the cask works gently, hemicellulose caramelising to light toffee and lignin yielding vanilla. The years have drawn off much of the cask, alcohol faster than water in the Scottish damp, leaving this mature, gentle remainder.