When Dhavall Gandhi — formerly of The Macallan — released Whiskymaker's Reserve No. 1 in October 2019, it marked the moment The Lakes Distillery stepped confidently out of the shadow of its young-spirit releases and into serious single malt territory. Bottled at a bracing 60.6% ABV and limited to 5,994 bottles, it was the first expression fully conceived under Gandhi's 'elevated' philosophy of extended marrying in sherry casks.
The liquid is a marriage of American and European oak-seasoned sherry casks — Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez to the fore — and the Bassenthwaite spirit takes to them with almost unsettling ease. This is not a whisky pretending to be Spanish; it is a Cumbrian malt wearing Andalusian robes with genuine grace.
On the nose there are those unmistakable glacé cherries, the kind you used to find in a Christmas cake, alongside old leather and cocoa. The palate is plush without being syrupy — black forest gateau, walnut, candied peel — and the cask strength delivery keeps everything bright-edged rather than stewed. A splash of water coaxes out more orchard fruit and a dusting of cinnamon.
The finish is long and bitter-sweet, fading on dark chocolate and dried fig. For a distillery that only laid down its first casks in late 2014, this is a remarkable statement of intent — and the release that put English whisky lovers firmly on notice.
Gandhi's arrival at The Lakes had been a quiet seismic event in English whisky circles, and this inaugural Reserve was the moment the industry understood why. It was not simply a young distillery's first serious release; it was a manifesto for how time, wood and patient marrying could make Cumbrian malt sing in a distinctly European key. Collectors snapped it up within weeks, and it remains, for many, the definitive opening chapter of modern English single malt.
