Lakes Distillery Whiskymaker's Reserve #4

Whilst @LakesDistillery continue to build stock and work towards a house style 'standard' release they have released the fourth in their Whiskymaker's Reserve single malt series. WMR #4 comes in at 52% and has been matured in PX, Oloroso and Red Wine Casks.

I really liked #1 and #3 but still think #2 was even better, let's see what #4 is like.....

Each of the previous WMR single malts have gone down the route of  heavily sherried PX and/or Oloroso with a little Red Wine Cask thrown in for good measure - indicating where their house style will go, the WBR #4 follows that same tried and tested route.

 

Photo: @thelakes_mike

Distillery notes: The fourth release - and our most complex to date - this is a new whisky matured in the finest meticulously sourced Oloroso, PX and red wine casks, comprising of Spanish, American and French oak. Non-chill filtered, natural colour and bottled at 52% ABV, it is a supremely balanced single malt, with big notes of Manuka honey, sun dried dates, nuts, and an indulgent velvet-cream finish.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Dark orange gold, very similar to WBR #3. Swirls cling, beads form creating an inverted crown before falling as slow thick legs. 

 

Nose: Musty old bookshop sherry type notes - thick strawberry jam, dried fruit, cherries, berries and dates. There's a little citrus zest and a hint of milk chocolate.

Palate: Thick syrupy arrival - mouthcoating and warming. A little spicy to start as the 52% ABV hits you but it soon calms down with a few more sips. Sweet honey, dates and black cherry notes give way to a dry oak and milk chocolate note. Some Christmas spiced dried fruit and nut notes. The liquid disappears leaving a dry creamy strawberry note on the tongue.

Finish: Long lingering oaky dryness, the Oloroso notes coming to the fore here, spiced dried fruit and a hint of strawberry. Nice!

Thoughts: A little less spicy than previous releases and I think it suits the style well - I'd still rate #2 above this one, but it's nicer, to my palate, than #1 and #3. Lakes have again reduced the WMR ABV again - they've gone from 61% down to 54% and now down to 52% - I'm guessing they are slowly dropping to where their house style will settle - I'm hoping not too much lower - 52% hits a nice spot with huge mouthfeel and flavour and you can use as a baseline to explore with added water but personally I think it works well as it is.

Many thanks to Lakes for the sample, that hasn't influenced my thoughts but please bring back #2!

You can read my full review of the #1 here and a side by side with #2 here and #3 here.

Geeky stuff:

Whiskymaker's Reserve Releases
Release	Bottled	ABV	Bottles	Cask types
4	Apr '21	52%	???	PX, Oloroso and Red Wine Casks
3	Jun '20	54%	9,700	PX, Oloroso, Cream Sherry and Red Wine Casks
2	Oct '19	60.9%	4,778	PX, Bourbon, Red Wine Casks
1	Sep '19	60.6%	6,100 or 5,922	PX & Red Wine Oak Casks