The Whiskymaker's Editions are Dhavall Gandhi's canvases — a series in which the Lakes Distillery's whiskymaker explores the art of Elevage, the careful marrying and re-racking of spirit across sherry casks from Jerez. Iris takes its name from the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and the bottling lives up to its namesake with a spectrum of aromas that seem to shift with every swirl of the glass.
At 52% and non-chill-filtered, it pours a deep mahogany. The nose is unashamedly perfumed: crushed violets, orange peel, honey, and the dusty sweetness of dried fig. There is a confectionary quality to it, as though one had stepped into an old sweet shop stocked with candied fruits and rose lokum.
The palate is generous and rounded, the sherry influence unmistakable but elegantly dressed. Dried fig and date meet bitter cocoa, with Seville marmalade cutting through the richness and a little spice flickering at the edges. For a young English whisky, the composure is remarkable.
The Lakes Distillery opened in 2014 on the banks of the River Derwent near Bassenthwaite, the only English lake technically to bear the name. Iris is proof that location and patience matter as much as pedigree — a whisky that feels distinctly of Cumbria, yet speaks fluently in the language of Andalusian oak.
