Littlemill 26 Year Old 1988 XOP Douglas Laing

Douglas Laing launched a series called Old Particular at the end of 2013. But now there is also a range of Extra Old Particular – XOP for short – in which exceptional single casks are bottled like a 30 Year Old Caol Ila, a 26 Year Old Macallan and so forth. They recently announced a 30 Year Old Auchentoshan, so I have started saving up. But in the meantime, let us give this 26 Year Old 1988 Littlemill a go.

The nose is pretty alcoholic, but once you get past that, you will get nice touches of almonds, dried grasses, citrus peels and whipped cream. Lemon tart? After a few moments quite a bit of fruit that you would typically find on a fruit pie emerge: pineapple, peach, oranges and a single slice of kiwi. Lovely.

It is oily, but surprisingly soft. Again fruit, with citrus in the lead. Just a tad sour, but in a good way. Less tropical than expected, though.

The finish is medium long in which the spices (ginger mostly) and the agrums return.

Lovely Littlemill, although I find the price tag of 300 EUR quite steep.

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