Side by side : Lakes v Bimber initial releases

I've recently been lucky to try the initial releases from two of England's latest distilleries, both were impressive on their own but lets see how they compare side by side!

The Lakes Distillery's Whiskymaker's Reserve #1 and Bimber Distillery's 1st Release.

I've already reviewed these drams, Lakes & Bimber, so these notes are more about comparing rather than reviewing.

Dram	The Lakes Distillery The Whiskymaker's Reserve #1	Bimber Distillery The 1st Release
Characteristics	60.6% ABV, Natural colour, NCF, 5,992 bottles	54.2% ABV, Natural-colour, NCF, 1,000 bottles
Bottler info	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.	Nose: Pronounced, fresh and expressive. Stewed apples are joined by ripe red berries, charred mandarin segments and plump raisins. Natural sweetness from soft toffee merges with crumbly shortbread and crushed walnuts, whilst nutmeg and clove spices provide a balanced intensity. Palate: Full-bodied with a viscous mouthfeel. Flame-scorched orange peels and jammy berry fruits are enriched with sultanas and sponge cake. Creamy vanilla toffee is enlivened by ginger and pepper spicing, whilst dark chocolate and leather offer further delectable depths. Finish: Lingering pepper and nutmeg spices are sweetened with demerara sugar and bolstered by a touch of charred oak.
My thoughts:
Appearance	A lovely dark gold in the glass, swirls cling to the sides eventually falling as slow fat legs.	A lovely dark gold in the glass, bubbles when poured hint at the high ABV. Gravity defying swirls for a crown of beads around the glass before they finally fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Loads of sherry notes - fresh fruit and jam, icing sugar and milk chocolate. The Lakes gives the impression of being older, some dunnage warehouse notes. Little in the way of spice hints on the nose.	Again loads of sherry notes - fresh fruit and jam but with more citrus, a hint of icing sugar but no chocolate. Bimber offers a younger, fresher nose with hints of spice to come.
Palate	The Lakes is very smooth, less sweet and with a better spice kick. There is some citrus sourness but not as much as the Bimber. Both show icing sugar notes and give a drying effect in the mouth.	Bimber is thick and mouth coating but not as smooth, it's quite sweet but is nicely balanced with a sour note. Hardly any spice on the palate. Both show icing sugar notes and give a drying effect in the mouth but the Bimber has some burnt brown sugar, toffee notes too.
Finish	The spice, sour grapefruit note and red fruit linger. A well rounded and very moreish dram.	Sweet and slightly sour, again red fruit linger. The Bimber doesn't have the spice notes of The Lakes.
Overall	While both of these are from England, it's The Lakes which comes across as more like a Scotch. The Bimber isn't like anything else I've tried from Scotland - it's fresher and more citrusy. They are both very young whiskies 3-4 years old but don't really present as that - maybe the Bimber nose does a little? I think offering these at a high ABV has been an excellent decision by both companies - it's giving us a taste of what the whisky in the cask is really like. We have the option of diluting but I'd suggest you don't need to both are great just as they are. A favourite? well that's a difficult decision! I think The Lakes wins it on the nose and finish but the Bimber has a slightly better palate - I love sour citrus and icing sugar notes! You won't go wrong with either dram, the different is the price, you could buy two bottles of The Lakes for the just about the same money as one of the Bimber. I think the difference is that this is Bimber's first release and they obviously have some investment to claw back, The Lakes did that with their earlier, blend releases.

So two very nice malt whiskies, a credit to the distillery teams who crafted them! But we need to remember that these are only their initial releases, and probably came from their best casks?

Lake's second bottling - a PX, Red wine & ex-bourbon and Bimber’s second – a re-charred American oak are both due for release this week and they'll both be around the same price - based on these two initial releases I don't think you'll go wrong with either!

  

They need to be able to keep the quality high with future ongoing releases, to start building a fanbase and market share, and I for one can't wait to see how they do!