Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery, Littlemill, has partnered with the highly-acclaimed Scottish glassware company Glencairn Crystal to create stunning hand-crafted decanters and packaging for its most significant release to date: an exceptional 45 year-old liquid, commemorating the distillery’s 250th anniversary.
Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery, Littlemill, has partnered with the highly-acclaimed Scottish glassware company Glencairn Crystal to create stunning hand-crafted decanters and packaging for its most significant release to date: an exceptional 45 year-old liquid, commemorating the distillery’s 250th anniversary.
The 30% lead crystal decanter has been hand blown and hand-crafted – its shape follows on from the Littlemill Testament decanter released in 2021. Each unique 250th anniversary decanter has been intricately hand cut with a hexagonal design that has been inspired by a camera aperture and the lettering on the front is hand engraved and finished with gold infill by the talented team of Glencairn Crystal craftspeople.
It is topped with a beautiful hand turned and finished gold plated collar and stopper, which notes special milestone years from Littlemill’s history, specially finished to encapsulate the neck of the decanter.
To mark its historic milestone, Littlemill also collaborated with world-renowned photographer Stefan Sappert, to honour two monumental moments in time: the establishment of Littlemill and its innovators who shaped whisky production, and the development of photography – both occurring in the 1700s; two artforms connected by their ability to capture a moment and transport us to the past.
In homage to Stefan and his process, the Littlemill 250th cabinet presentation box draws inspiration from a Victorian bellows camera box with a traditional lens, designed by Morans Wood Components. The Glencairn Crystal team created the highly polished black plated brass piece for the front of the box featuring a special crystal lens which is also expertly hand engraved with gold infill.
It is the distillery’s oldest age statement to date with only 250 individually numbered bottles available worldwide, priced at £9,500.
Founded in 1772 in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, the distillery was lost to a fire in 2004 and since then, Master Blender of Loch Lomond Group, Michael Henry, has held guardianship of the last remaining rare casks, drawing on the limited reserves for the Littlemill 250th Anniversary Release. The liquid has been taken from a single distillation on 4th October 1976. It was re-casked in 1996 into American oak Hogsheads, before maturing in first-fill Oloroso sherry hogsheads for a final six months before bottling.
As part of the global collaboration, Stefan Sappert has manufactured 250 silver on black glass photographic plates. Nestled in a drawer under the decanter, it recaptures an image of the River Clyde close to Littlemill’s doorsteps. Each individually numbered plate is visibly unique and exclusive to its new owner, bearing Stefan’s signature and fingerprints on the reverse. Dunbartonshire was historically the largest Scottish glass producer of the era, and the raw beauty of each plate perfectly captures that of Littlemill’s spiritual home.
Scott Davidson, New Product Development Director at Glencairn Crystal, commented:
“The craftsmanship involved in creating each Littlemill decanter, like whisky-making and photography, is a skill that has been mastered over many years. It has been an honour to continue our partnership with Littlemill and to be involved in this exciting project, paying homage to the distillery’s very special 250th anniversary”.