VisitingLittlemill is closed and demolished.
Vital Stats
Littlemill was one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, there are records of excise officers' houses in 1772 (which the distillery claimed as its foundation year), though there have been suggestions of distilling on the site as early as 1750. It had a chequered history with several periods of closure and changes of ownership. Until 1929 the distillery used triple distillation, common in the lowlands in the 19th century, though now only surviving in neighbouring Auchentoshan.
Under new ownership in the 1930s, Duncan Thomas changed to double distillation, and also experimented with hybrid stills (similar to what would come to be known as Lomond stills), with a rectifying column rather than a traditional swan neck. Barton Brands invested in the distillery in 1959 and the firm built Loch Lomond in 1965. Closed in 1984, a management buy-out and modernisation in 1989 saw Littlemill back in production, but they went bankrupt in 1994, and though bought by Glen Catrine, by then owners of Loch Lomond distillery, Littlemill never went back into production. The Distilery was dismantled in 1997, but there were rumours of potential re-opening until it was destroyed by fire in 2004. Malt Madness Wikipedia WhiskyMerchants scotchwhisky.com SMWS |
Getting ThereClick the map's Google logo to go to Google Maps - for Directions, Street View etc.
Open Cycle Map Bing Map Glengoyne Auchentoshan Loch Lomond Distilleries Highland South & West Lowland Nearest station - Bowling (BWG) (400 yards) (Live Train Times). Level access to Platform 1 (to Glasgow/Cumbernauld), but Platform 2 is via a stepped footbridge. {The station plan for Bowling has South at the top, which may cause confusion}. Kilpatrick (KPT) (2 mies) (Live Train Times) has ramped access to Platform 2 (from Glasgow/Cumbernauld), but stepped access to Platform 1. RangeLittlemill produced a few own bottlings, which weren't particularly highly regarded. Since closure the spirit has aged longer and independent bottles are still appearing regularly, though becoming increasingly expensive. Littlemill also briefly produced variants known as Dumbuck - heavily peated - (named after a local farm) and Dunglass - unpeated - (named after a nearby ruined castle).
RMW TWE MoM CyclingNearest bike shops:
Halfords St James Park, Glasgow Rd, Dumbarton 01389 734372 Magic Cycles Arch 4, Bowling Harbour, Bowling 01389 873433 |
Photos on this page were taken by me. Click on photo to enlarge. Full size versions of all my photos of Littlemill Distillery are available on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynjenkins/sets/72157627563896989
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynjenkins/sets/72157627563896989