Two weeks ago I was quite lyrical about a Littlemill 1988 bottled by Whisky-Fässle in Germany. Now their Dutch friends at Whiskybase bottled a cask with very similar specs, in the third release of their Archives series. It was distilled on the 7th of November 1988 and matured in a sherry cask.
Littlemill 23 yo 1988 (49,3%, Whiskybase 2012, sherry cask #08/1077, 48 btl.)
Littlemill 23 yo 1988 (49,3%, Whiskybase 2012, sherry cask #08/1077, 48 btl.)Nose: glad to see this is very similar. Elegant sherry notes, fruit cake and dates, and probably even more tropical fruits like tangerine, passion fruits and papaya than in the WhF and previous WB releases. Again the old-school notes of tobacco and leather with nice herbal touches. Wonderful.
Mouth: nicely sweet, spicy and fruity. How nice to find prunes, raisons, lemon balm, coffee beans, pink grapefruit… Quite some cinnamon and sandalwood notes (there’s something oriental to it). Only in the end does it get more herbal with liquorice dryness and a bourbonny kind of oak influence.
Finish: long, slightly roasted, with ginger and liquorice.
It’s starting to become predictable but I adore this. Probably as good as Littlemill gets in my humble opinion. Around € 125, available from the guys at Whiskybase. Note that there are only 48 bottles available.
Score: 92/100