The Lakes Whiskymaker's Reserve No.5

The fifth instalment in an internationally award-winning series, and a single malt distilled, matured and bottled entirely in the Lake District. No blends. No imports. Just English whisky, made in England.

A 700ml bottle of English single malt, distilled at The Lakes Distillery in Bassenthwaite, Cumbria, opened in 2014 inside a converted Victorian model farm in the Lake District National Park. The maturation warehouses sit in a microclimate cooler and damper than most of England, drawing slower, gentler interactions between whisky and oak.

The Whiskymaker's Reserve series is whiskymaker Dhavall Gandhi's evolving exploration of a sherry-led English single malt house style, a ladder of releases, each one refining the last. Gandhi joined The Lakes in 2016 from The Macallan, and brought with him a methodical, almost scientific approach to cask selection. No.5 was created by the principle of élevage, borrowed from Cognac: monitoring every cask continuously, transferring spirit between casks as needed, and shepherding the whisky through maturation rather than simply waiting on it.

The casks for No.5 are bespoke Oloroso, PX and red wine: a combination of Spanish and American oak. The result is sherry-led, wood-forward and elegant. Bottled at 52% ABV, non-chill filtered, at natural colour.

On the nose: dried figs, sultanas, morello cherries, sugared orange peel, with molasses and toffee underneath. On the palate: thick and oily, baklava sweetness with brown sugar, honey and pistachio, then deeper red berries from the wine casks, dark coffee, creamy chocolate. The finish is long, with cassia, ginger and a coating of toffee that lingers.

The previous release, No.4, was named World's Best Single Malt at the 2022 World Whiskies Awards. No.5 is the elegant, sophisticated evolution of that benchmark, with the same DNA, more refined, more precise.

For sipping. Neat, or with a few drops of water to open up the creamy nuttiness on the nose. After dinner. As a winter pour. As a serious bottle for someone who already knows what they like.

70cl. Please drink responsibly.