At the end of summer I was invited to a Littlemill tasting together with a bunch of whisky friends, 16 friends to be exact. Everyone brought their own bottle, which meant that we also tasted 16 Littlemills that day. Not a small number, but by dividing the whiskies into 4 groups, 1 cl per glass and enough (delicious) food in between, it was still good to do. My choice was this Littlemill 1990, bottled by Malts of Scotland.
During that tasting, I thought it was a nice whisky, just not that special. But the circumstances to get a really good impression were of course less, it was very hot that day, I also love to chat with people and tasting 16 different Littlemills in a few hours doesn’t help either. But fortunately I still had enough in my bottle to taste this at home, but now in the comfort of my own home.
This Littlemill has matured in a ex-bourbon cask for 25 years and is bottled at 50.2% ABV. There were 189 bottles available.
Littlemill 1990 tasting notes:
Nose: Quite sweet and restrained at first. But after some time this get’s better. Powder sugar, some cookie dough, and bananas (but the candy). Vanilla and it’s a little grassy. Later some grapefruit and melons too. With water: It becomes more grassy now. And it’s a bit fresher too. A nice bit of lemons.
Taste: It’s very sweet again. Vanilla. Maybe a hint of caramel. There’s a bitter note from grapefruit in the background. And it’s slightly peppery. Later it becomes more fruity; kiwi’s now here. And a hint of pears. A ripe orange melon. With water: Less peppery.
Finish: The finish is long. It’s a bit peppery and quite fruity too. Grapefruit, pears and a lovely hint of ananas. With water: Somewhat creamy.
Ok, I definitely missed out on some of the flavours in this Littlemill during that tasting. There is a lot more to it than I initially thought. There is plenty of flavour in this whisky. Lots of different fruits, but also that typical grassy note. And a very good finish too. Very nice.
