Distillery Visit - The Lakes Distillery - 16/07/2016

Suzanne1967

We had a chance to revisit the Lakes Distillery yesterday, almost 12 months on from our last trip when we signed up to their 'Founders' package - a bottle and 2 miniatures of their single malt every year for 10 Years, along with 4 free tour passes and a total of £20 of discount vouchers a year. As 'Founders' we were immediately offered a dram of the Ollorosso finish One to sample before our tour, being left with glasses for the 4 of us and the bottle, which we made a sizeable dent in

For those who have not visited the Lakes Distillery it is a new venture from some of those involved in setting up Arran, based near Brassenthwaite Lake - near Keswick - in what was a Victorian era Model Farm. The buildings have been completely and sympathetically transformed and restored, with a high quality finish throughout and lots of thought into the branding - a quatrefoil / shamrock leaf design permeates the structure indicating the 4 blessings of Faith, Hope, Luck and Love, something they hope to have in abundance. A fantastic Bistro - reasonably priced but excellent quality and large portions with great service - and a selection of quality local goods in the shop add to the ambience of the place.

Our original visit was done and paid for - not a cheap tour at £12.50 a head - before we bought the Founders membership 12 months ago. We just had to go to see before deciding whether to buy or not.

The original tour last year was great, lots of info and folklore about the area before visiting the production area and one of the bonded warehouses. It felt something special, a lot of care and thought had gone into the tour and it took about an hour to do.

This year's tour was more informative about the process, much more technical and more chance to understand the uniqueness of the Lakes Distillery, but at a cost of the loss of some of the Lore - nothing was mentioned this time about a certain smuggler and the Lore surrounding him, but we still got to watch the excellent film tracing the Derwent river's course from source to sea.

After the film it was into the production area, a single mash tun, 4 stainless steel washbacks, and 3 stills, 1 gin / vodka still and 2 standard identically sized wash and spirit stills - named Susan and Rachel after the wives of the founders. A detailed explanation of the production processes, the herbs used in the gin and then into one of the bonded warehouses, with casks for individuals, HRH Princess Royal (again) and James Bond 007, plus a Founder's Cask!

Then into the tasting area, for a taste of their One - a blended Malt with whisky from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland within, a nice enough dram, a small taste of the Ollorosso One - to go with the earlier taste, and a taster of the One Gin straight from the freezer, as fresh and citrusy as ever.

Overall I like the Lakes Distillery, it is beautifully done, it is small and retains a real feeling that all involved care deeply about the place. The tour yesterday was not the same one as we had previously done, but it was more technically thorough, for me I enjoyed it, as did the other 18 people on the tour, yet I feel if they had included more of the folklore that was present last time it would have made it even more engaging for those without a serious passion to whisky.


http://www.lakesdistillery.com/en/our-distillery/