Littlemill was a distillery located on the border of the Lowlands and Highlands in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire. I say 'was', as sadly, the distillery ceased production in 1996, was dismanted in 1997, and then burned to the ground in a fire in 2004. However, it's not all doom and gloom as the remaining stock from Littlemill was rescued and is now owned by Loch Lomand Group.
There’s always an air of excitement surrounding closed distilleries. Some have passed into legend, some still have just about enough stocks for occasional (and expensive) glimpses back into distilling’s past. But, all too often nowadays I’m hearing closed being directly equated as a measure of quality by itself. Distilleries have come and gone. Some were deemed surplus to the requirements of their time, others unfortunately had periods when their output was considerably less than remarkable, and poor whisky doesn’t help meet sales targets. Tasting whisky from a closed distillery does offer a unique experience in the form of a liquid time capsule, a glance back into whisky’s past. But, whilst rarity may determine price, it is a poor gauge of quality by itself.