Home-grown UK talent will be showcased at the upcoming Wine & Spirits Show in London, where Cumbria’s The Lakes Distillery will exhibit its acclaimed range.

The Lakes Distillery will showcase its award-winning range at The Wine & Spirits Show

Taking place on 12 and 13 October at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London, The Wine & Spirits Show is a collaboration between The Spirits Business and the drinks business teams.

Over the course of the two days, the event will bring leading wine and spirits brands together for an exciting programme of discussion, tasting and learning.

The Wine & Spirits Show will encompass two halls – one dedicated to wine and one to spirits – and will feature a number of masterclasses for the trade and consumers.

The event will feature drinks producers from around the world and will also shine a light on UK brands, such as The Lakes Distillery.

The distillery – which opened in 2014, becoming Cumbria’s first new distillery in more than a century – will display multiple products from its award-winning range, including: The One, a blended whisky containing liquid from across the British Isles; Steel Bonnets, a blend of Scotch and English whisky; The Lakes Gin; its range of gin-based liqueurs; The Lakes Vodka; and its vodka-based liqueurs.

Lakes unveiled its first limited edition single malt offering – the Quatrefoil Collection – earlier this year, and will launch its flagship single malt in the mid-2020s.

2018 has proved a busy year for the distiller, which broke two world records with the launch of the Genesis single malt. The expression became the most expensive whisky from a new distillery and also most expensive whisky from an English distillery after fetching £7,900 (US$10,500).

In June, Lakes launched Steel Bonnets, thought to be the world’s first blend of English and Scottish malt whisky. The expression combines The Lakes Single Malt and malt whiskies from Scotland.

The whisky has received rave reviews and won a Gold medal in The Spirits Business’s recent Luxury Masters.

Paul Currie, founder and chief operating officer of The Lakes Distillery said: “I’m incredibly proud that Steel Bonnets has been recognised by some of the world’s leading whisky experts for its excellence. Our master whisky maker Dhavall Gandhi has created something very special.

“This is the third year of the competition and the excellence demonstrated in our category confirms the emphasis leading whisky makers are putting on taste and quality.  With the growing trend for customers to spend more and drink less this is an increasingly important award for premium spirits.

“Our ambition is to establish The Lakes Distillery as a luxury global whisky brand and this recognition is another significant step towards this. Steel Bonnets now sits alongside world brands including Sullivan’s Cove of Tasmania and Chivas Regal Ultis, both Gold award winners, and I’m absolutely thrilled.”

Click through to the following page to read more about The Lakes Distillery and its plans for the future.

Get in touch with Chloé Beral – chloe.beral@thedrinksbusiness.com – for more details on exhibiting at The Wine & Spirits Show. To register for the trade session, click here. 

The trade will be welcome from 1-5pm on Friday. The event will open to consumers from 1-9pm on Friday and 12-8pm on Saturday.

The Lakes Distillery

The Lakes Distillery is aiming to achieve “global world whisky status”

When was the company founded and how did it come about?

The multi award-winning Lakes Distillery was founded in 2014 by Paul Currie and Nigel Mills.

This is the story of a dream come true (not that it was an easy task!). Our vision is to create one of the leading malt spirits in the world, alongside offering one of the most unique visitor experiences in the Lake District. From a Victorian cattle farm to a world-class production facility of quality spirits, the creation of this unique venue was truly a labour of love.

Every detail has been carefully constructed to support the dream – from the restoration of the buildings through to the technology and hardware used to create the spirits themselves.

The science behind whisky is not a new process but the number of factors influencing the quality of the end product is numerous – these factors are what we make every attempt to shape, control and add flair. A true blend of alchemy and science.

Tell us a fun fact about your company?

One of the founders, Paul Currie grew up in the whisky industry with his father, Harold Currie, the MD of Chivas Brothers.

In 1995, they founded the Arran whisky distillery. In 2011, Paul obtained planning consent to build a whisky distillery in the Lake District National Park, and in 2012, met Nigel. Together they developed the business plan and funding strategy to result in The Lakes Distillery as you see it today.

What is the best thing about The Lakes Distillery?

Our team is steeped with experience and we aim to produce a collection of world-class spirits. For a start our founder, Paul Currie – who co-founded the widely acclaimed, award-winning Arran distillery – is a man who has grown up in and amongst the distilling industry.

Our production is overseen by one of Scotland’s foremost whisky experts, Alan Rutherford, former production director at Diageo and council member of the Scotch Whisky Association. Chris Anderson who crossed the border from Scotland with a lifetime’s experience of making the highest quality whisky, including as manager of a number of well-known distilleries, was hired in our early period as our master distiller. Our chief whisky maker Dhavall Gandhi, a chartered scientist in distilling, has a masters degree in brewing and distilling from Heriot-Watt University and a diploma in distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, and had previously acted as a whisky maker at the Macallan brand.

The talent and different backgrounds the team come from has lead to agility and ambition for The Lakes Distillery.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

The Lakes Genesis Single Malt Auction – the auction of our first 99 bottles of single malt. Bottle number one sold on 10 July 2018 for £7,900, breaking two new world records. It became the most expensive bottle of single malt whisky from a new whisky distillery, with an average price paid of £900 per bottle, and also the most expensive bottle of single malt whisky sold by an English Whisky distillery.

What would you like to have achieved by this time next year?

For a new distillery, its team spends the first 10 years discovering and nurturing the true essence of the distillery character. Therefore, our whisky journey is only beginning.

However, by next year we would like to achieve global world whisky status. In 2019, The Lakes Distillery will begin to release bottle of The Lakes Single Malt to the public and this will be a very exciting time.

The flagship single malt will be released in the mid 2020s, so we are still on our way to creating a whisky brand.