To kick off June’s whisky reviews, here is an older Littlemill. This is another of the many casks of 20+yo Littlemill that were bottled by various indie outfits in the early 2010s, well after the distillery had closed, been demolished and the ground it stood on plowed with sand. Well, the latter only happened in a figurative sense. The distillery closed finally in 1994 and was dismantled in 1997. What was left of it burned down in 2004 and now a housing development stands on the site. As I never get tired of noting, Littlemill had a very negative reputation among whisky aficionados when it was open. The official releases were not very inspiring. But a number of casks that remained in storage were aged into an excellence that the official releases never reached and many of them were released 15 odd years ago. As the whisky market was not insanely overheated at the time, bottles from these casks were available at quite reasonable prices from various indie bottlers (my spreadsheet tells me I paid just about $114 for this one) and I socked a few away. This cask was released by a German outfit named Glen Fahrn. The latest release Whiskybase logs from them was in 2017—I’m not sure if they’re still a going concern. Anyway, I’m glad to have finally opened this bottle a few nights ago. Here now are my notes. Continue reading
Category Archives: Glen Fahrn
Tobermory 17, 1995 (Glen Fahrn)
I recently reviewed a bourbon cask Arran bottled by the German store Glen Fahrn. I was not a fan. In the hope that that was an aberration, I reached for another set of samples of Glen Fahrn. Now, you might say that Tobermory is not the best distillery on which to pin hopes of a turnaround, that maybe I should have picked the two 20 ml bottles of Miltonduff next to these instead. Unlike you, however, I choose to accentuate the positive, and I will remind you that I quite liked the last Tobermory in its late teens—and from a proximate year—that I tried. But, you say, that was from a sherry cask and this is from a bourbon cask, and so more likely to flaunt Tobermory’s deviant character. All I can say in response is that you should be ashamed of yourself for throwing words like “deviant” around; it’s very judgmental of you and, frankly, suggests an alarmingly narrow view of the world. It’s people like you who make people like Florin (Tobermory Superfan #1) feel unwelcome and alone. Continue reading
Arran 16, 1996 (Glen Fahrn)
Despite what you might think, this is not a pointless review of a long disappeared whisky. Well, the review may be pointless, but the whisky is still around. Glen Fahrn are a German retailer who started releasing their own bottlings a few years ago (I’m not sure if they still do). I purchased samples of a few of these from Whiskybase a while ago but had somehow forgotten to drink any of them. I came across these Arran samples recently and decided it was time. Much to my surprise, when I looked up the whisky I discovered that it’s still available from Glen Fahrn’s store. There might be a reason for this: it pains me to tell you that my review is not likely to make you want to rush out and purchase a bottle. I’m always disappointed when this happens with an indie bottling of a whisky from an indie distillery. It’s especially disappointing in this case as I’ve enjoyed the few bourbon cask Arrans I’ve had a fair bit (see the most recently reviewed) and was hoping the positive streak would continue. Continue reading