Scotland is full of ghosts, and some of take the form of whisky distilleries. The term “ghost distillery” is an evocative way of referring to a distillery that has been mothballed, shut down, and sometimes completely demolished, but still has whisky aging in barrels around the country that other companies or independent bottlers release from time to time. Often these are very old and very expensive, like the newly announced Littlemill 47-year-old called The Vanguards Collection Chapter Two.
Littlemill is known as Scotland’d oldest licensed distillery, having been founded in 1772 by Glaswegian George Buchanan. It changed hands several times over the centuries, as is the case with many scotch distilleries, and was mothballed at various points in its history. Over the years, however, it produced its fair share of peated and unpeated whisky, before closing for good in 1994. A decade later, in 2004, a fire broke out that destroyed the facilities and it was demolished a year later.
The brand is now owned by Loch Lomond Group, which has released several expressions from the distilleries still aging barrels over the years. Chapter One of the Vanguards Collection came out in 2023, a 45-year-old single malt named after Robert Muir, the employee who is credited as receiving the first license to distill in 1773. That was a 1977 vintage aged for 40 years in refill American oak barrels and then finished for five years in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks. Just 250 bottles of that whisky were released. Chapter Two is called Jane MacGregor as a tribute to the first woman to hold a whisky license at a distillery the size of Littlemill. This is a 47-year-old single malt distilled in 1976, aged in bourbon barrels for 20 years and then put into American oak hogsheads for a final 27 years. It was bottled at 44.9 percent ABV and is said to have notes of crisp green apple and pears, fresh pineapple, grapefruit, lime, honeysuckle, and nutmeg spice on the palate.
A whisky this old and rare has to come in special packaging, and of course that’s the case here. The decanter was made by U.K. glassmaker Bethany Wood, and it comes housed in a wooden cabinet made of ash with a glass portal and a handblown decanter dress stopper. There’s also a 50-ml miniature bottle, which collectors will welcome—they can sample the whiskey but still hold onto this expensive release. Only 250 numbered bottles of the new Vanguards Collection Chapter 2 will be released, each with a price tag of £14,500 (about $18,800). Interested buyers can visit the Littlemill website to register their interest. There are a range of other releases, including the first Vanguards release, available to purchase now at the Whisky Exchange.
