The Lakes Distillery The Whiskymakers Reserve No.1 - 2019 Release

Construction of The Lakes English whisky distillery began in 2011 at the side of Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria, and distilling operations commenced in 2014. The team behind the construction of The Lakes distillery were an investment group led by Paul Currie, who with his father Hal Currie was a co-founder of the Arran distillery.  

The Lakes released their first English single malt whisky, The Lakes Genesis, in 2018 and also make vodka and gin on the same site. The distillery was expanded in 2020 and now has a capacity of 400,000 litres per annum, with 80% of the distillery’s output filled to sherry casks. The Lakes distillery’s greatest success to date came at the 2022 World Whisky Awards, where The Lakes Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.4 was named World’s Best Single Malt Whisky.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.