Apart from the Founders Editions their first two mainstream releases are labelled 'luxury', what is that about?Genesis set a record-breaking auction sale in July 2018, the website starts it's description with "This single malt whisky is intended to be a work of art" - I switched off.
The Quatrefoil Collection : 4 bottles for £895 but you only get 1 now and the others over the next 3 years? It's not whisky for the common man is it? How many of the 3,500 limited edition sets have actually ever been opened?
Continuing their blending range you can have a 46.6% ABV blend of their own and an undisclosed Scottish distillery's whisky with a wonderful marketing story under the name of Steel Bonnets - but I wasn't impressed, not for £55.
So let's get on to the latest release, called The Whiskymaker's Reserve No.1 it's their first 'real release' of a single malt. Bottled at cask strength 60.6% ABV, for a reasonable price of £65. I'm guessing this is a vatting of 3-4 years old whiskies. Lakes have a new logo to reflect their Quatrefoil collection, this bottle has the same design as that series and actually looks really nice!
Official notes:
The Lakes Single Malt Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.1, bottled at cask strength (60.6% ABV) to ensure maximum flavour, is a full-bodied expression, matured principally in finest, meticulously sourced PX and red wine oak casks, comprising American, Spanish and French oak. Non-chill filtered and bottled at natural colour. Each bottle of The Whiskymaker's Reserve No.1 is individually numbered.
The nose is rich and vibrant with vanilla, chocolate and wood spice, layers of dry fruits, ginger and orange on the palate and a long, warming finish.
The Whiskymaker’s Reserve is an artistic exploration of oak and blending; of flavour evolution and defining a house style. Creating a new whisky requires a framework of sorts, but there has to be room within it to play, to follow gut feeling and instinct. The architecture of each release of Whiskymaker’s Reserve will evolve in keeping with both our increasing sherry cask influence and our sense of adventure.
Nose: Vanilla, raisins, and gentle spice with hints of chocolate.
Palate: Wood spice, orange citrus and dry fruits.
Finish: Very long and warming with mouth-coating creaminess.
Appearance: A lovely dark gold in the glass, swirls cling to the sides eventually falling as slow fat legs.
Nose: The sherry notes jump out of the glass initially, red fruit, dried fruit and some stewed apple. There's a huge toffee note and hints of strawberries and vanilla. A little time in the glass, mixing with oxygen, opens up the fruit notes - strawberries, raspberries and a little black cherry, icing sugar and milk chocolate.
Palate: Thick, incredibly smooth arrival, coats the mouth with huge red fruit notes before a slightly sour citrus note takes over. Finally the spice comes through as the liquid disappears down your throat.
This is so thick and smooth you'd never guess it was 60.6% ABV - absolutely no need to add water. A few more sips reveal the dried fruit and black cherries from the nose. The icing sugar is also there, drying the mouth with each sip. Big sherry bomb notes but it's incredibly smooth, maybe the red wine casks have calmed down what would be a little rough at this ABV?
Finish: The spice is there, the sour citrus note (grapefruit?) is back and the red fruit lingers. It's very warming and long lasting - a perfect winter's night dram for sipping around a log fire.
Overall: I've not been too complimentary about their previous releases but to be fair I did really enjoy this one, yes it's a little young and comes from some weird cask combinations but it's well worth trying, this bottle isn't going to last long! It's one of the few whiskies I've tried (the only other one I can think of is Glen Scotia's Victoriana) where the nose, palate and finish all share nearly the same notes - lovely. Well done to the Lakes for finally releasing a whisky for the man in the street, one we can all afford and enjoy, looking forward to No. 2 and future releases!
They do still have some dodgy marketing videos though! I'm sure I'm not drinking lake water!
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