i first tried this whisky about 3 months ago. I wasn’t that impressed with it. I found it to taste to young and not quite ready. As I always do, I’ve gone back to it, after a few months in the open bottle, to give it a second chance.
The third release from The Lakes Distillery’s Whiskymaker’s Reserve series, which explores blending and oak maturation. Matured in Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez and cream sherry casks and a small number of red wine casks.
Bottle age: 3 months
Appearance: Rose wine, very ‘pink’. Quite thin. No legs noticeable.
Nose: Lots of sweet shop sugar, slight reprisal tropical fruits, Oak, foam bananas, those foam teeth and some vanilla’esque bourbon. A bit of ethanol, smells quite young.
Palate: Quite spicy and nutty initially, with a sweet sherry after taste. An overpowering ethanol however, that masks the other flavours somewhat. Some citrus, mostly orange, tries to break through. A woody Oak hum is a constant undercurrent.
Finish: Ethanol and spice. Very little fruit and lighter notes.
Overall: I wasn’t that impressed with this as a new bottle. Going back to it (with high hopes) I’m still not, sorry.
