Littlemill 20yo 1992 Berry Bros Littlemill Distillery - Bowling, Dumbartonshire Berry Bros & Rudd bottling (purchase link). WhiskyBase reference page

For info   Reviews on sshhh! aim to detail the flavours, feelings and quality of each dram, wrapped up in as little nonsense as possible (!). Each whisky is tried on its own and given time to speak out, even if they often talk gibberish.
 
Littlemill was situated near the Lowland/Highland whisky border, but due to its triple distillation technique, it's more often classed as a Lowlander. It was possibly the oldest distillery in Scotland, which a history going back to ~1750. - see Malt Madness - Littlemill for a detailed profile.
 

Tastes & Smells
It took a whole load of time to get a reasonable selection of nosings for this one, it didn't give up its secrets easily. Toffee was the most recognisable flavour, then came peanuts and raisins. It was tangier than the Littlemill 21yo 1992 DC it was tried with, then complemented by cherry blossom and a hint of buttercream. Strangely, it ended up giving me a strong impression of a sausage supper in a chippy (not in oily way though). The taste was immediately minty, like crushed mint that's been left to go dark, and earthy with unusual fragrant, piquant spices (with basil and cloves too). Spiced lemons led into lime and then a big realisation of Metaxa (so much so I wrote down 'definitely!!' next to it). It felt a little too watery at times and was creamy not unlike a grain whisky, with an underlying spice that wasn't helped by adding water. It was souring and spicy on the finish, with limeagain and not unlike its tasting-fellow, lime leaves came through but this time much closer to the end.

Worth shouting about?
Argh, I just had very little idea what I though of this. Both Littlemills I tried together had the same problem but both were really distinct. This one was dominated by lime and that's a flavour that doesn't normally dominate a whisky. It had little open freshness to it, but the Metaxa thing was nice as well as evocative. I think I would've really struggled to score this on its own, but with a partner I decided I just couldn't split them so ended up scoring them equally. Would I recommend this to a friend? Probably not. Does it make Littlemill an interesting distillery? I'd say so, but only if this distinctness has better quality exponents.

Summary & Ramblings
I was transported to a Kefalonian cottage, sat outside late at night drinking a glass or two of local Metaxa. That feeling of holidays was strong, also feeling like sitting under a lemon tree in Spain, with old lemons lying on the floor. In other words, sour, citrusy and brandy-like.

Tasted on: 09/02/14 Bought: 27/01/14 Bought from: Master of Malt State: Sober 6.9 3.0

It's as if the liquid was saying 'lime lime lime.. brandy'.

tldr;
Another intriguing Littlemill that tried its hardest to defy categorisation. Definitely summed up and dominated by lime, but there was still more to it than that. It was mystifying: I still can't quite decide if I liked it or not.
 
 

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