A good whisky friend opened and split this bottle for their birthday and I saved my pour until mine came around. I have had an uneven experience with Littlemill—a lost Lowland distillery— though one of my favorites was another 1984 vintage.

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Whisky: Littlemill 32 Year (1984), Cooper’s Choice Cask 3898 for La Boutique du Chemin

Country/Region: Scotland/Lowland

ABV: 46.9%

Cask: Bourbon Cask

Age: 32 Years (Distilled 26 Nov. 1984, Bottled Dec. 2016)

Notes: All the tropical fruits were on display Carmen Miranda style with mango, pineapple, guava, and lychee. The fruitiness drifted between the artificial Juicy Fruit Gum and syrupy tinned fruit cocktail with buttery shortbread and pancakes (served with tropical guava and coconut syrups of course). In the background were fleetingly grassy hints of crushed sugar cane and white chocolate matcha mochi.  Medium-bodied, the flavors were gentle and balanced with tinned tropical fruit cocktail brimming with lychee, mango, and peaches in syrup. The fruity dominance relented at times to reveal crushed sugar cane, jasmine, lime, and buttery pancakes.  A touch of pepper and tropical floral teas lingered toward the end and carried onto a long and drying finish.

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Score: 9 (91)

Mental Image: Hats off at the Tropical Fruit Apocalypse

Conclusion: Wow. This was incredible— I love a good tropical fruit profile and this delivered waves of fruits and buttery pastries with more intriguing grassy elements in the background.  The mouthfeel was a touch syrupy and almost, but never quite, waxy. Despite the age and lower abv, the flavors were still lively and present, while that long gentle maturation left the whisky well-balanced and structured. Cooper’s Choice released several of these 1984 Littlemill and I missed my chance to try most of them, on the off chance they were anything like this, I will keep my eyes peeled for them.