There’s a high chance that you’ve already heard of the Lakes Distillery and its range of award-winning spirits, but here we go anyway! Since opening its doors to the public in 2014, the Distillery has steadily grown to be one of the region’s most well-known drinks producers, with their bottles being found in shops up and down the UK. They’ve not placed all their eggs in one basket though and have also developed a great Cumbrian attraction in the process! The Lakes Distillery is a purveyor of great food in the Bistro, and the land behind the barn is now the stomping ground of the alpaca herd belonging to Alpacaly Ever After too. Recently they’ve started offering Twilight Tours and invited me over to see what it’s all about. This is what I found.
First Impressions
What strikes you almost immediately is despite their big successes the Distillery site is actually still pretty contained. The buildings you visit today, once upon a time, formed part of a dairy farm which had been vacant for 20 years before being scooped up by founder, Paul Currie. Since then there’s obviously been a lot of work put in to bring it up to scratch!
The first stop on my visit was the Distillery Shop which is filled to the nines with whisky, vodka, gin and a few fruity liqueur numbers, as well as being the check-in point for a tour. I didn’t hang around here before the tour though; as soon as the lady at the desk mentioned alpacas I was out of there! I was lucky to be visiting on a warm Spring evening yet upon arriving at the alpaca paddock (which I now dub the ‘alpaddock’) I was still surprised at the almost serene backdrop. Picture this, it’s the golden hour and you’re down by the riverbank. A lone swan bobs up and down picking up something for its dinner and there’s a man partaking in a spot o’ fishing on the opposite bank. Then out of nowhere, a bug flies into your mouth and you sputter like a car on the verge of a breakdown for the next five minutes. Yep. That happened.
The Twilight Tour
Bug incident aside, I moved on to the tour itself. Before I go on, I must admit to not being a huge fan of whisky, or vodka in fact. Gin, on the other hand, I love. As such I went into the tour not as clued-up as I maybe should be about two-thirds of their product range – but that’s what a guide is for, right?
It won’t come as a surprise that the first part of the tour was an introduction to the Distillery which brings you up to speed on their journey from ramshackle dairy farm to fully-functioning drinks producers, as well as highlighting the ‘star of the show’: the all-important River Derwent. It is from here that the Lakes Distillery takes the water which forms the base component of all its spirits and liqueurs. Aside from being quite informative, the film we were shown goes a long way in reinforcing one of the company’s key values: having a sense of place. I can only come at this message with the perspective of a native Cumbrian but it did make me feel quite proud, as strange as it sounds.
The next part of the tour is what you really come to see – the mash house and stills. It’s the beating heart of the Lakes Distillery. There is a hint of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ about walking into this main barn. You’ve got the shine of the silver mash tuns and copper stills, and the whirring of magic being made right in front of your eyes. Fortunately, a couple of the mash tuns were functioning when I visited so we were able to peer down on the various stages of production but I can imagine if they were all empty it could be a bit anticlimactic.
From there we moved on to the final stages of the tour as we left the main barn and into the cask room. It was emptier than I expected but it’s fair play considering they’re doing so well that they now need this space to expand production in order to keep up with the demand of whisky connoisseurs across the world.
I did find it surprising to learn that so much character and complexity comes from the barrel the spirit matures in – about 60% we were told! They are big fans of ex-sherry casks at the Lakes Distillery as it imparts fruit and ginger flavours, but of course, each cask is slightly different. What Dhavall Gandhi manages expertly though is balancing and blending the profiles of each cask to create a world-class whisky time after time.
Time to Taste
Our tour concluded with a tasting session in the room behind the gift shop which I was both nervous and excited for. Nervous because, as a non-whisky drinker, I didn’t want to take one sip and embarrass myself by pulling a face of disgust, but also excited to taste something that was at the top of its game. As it turns out, I had no reason to be nervous but every reason to be excited. The One, as it’s called, was very tasty. I couldn’t quite appreciate it ‘straight’ but once I was encouraged to add a splash of water I began to be able to separate the flavours within it and notice many more of the nuances! My absolute favourite of everything we tasted, however, was the Explorer Edition Gin. I was even persuaded to buy a big ol’ bottle – admittedly it didn’t take much nudging.
It’s clear from this experience (and hopefully this review) that the Distillery’s key product is their whisky, a fact which they’re not quiet about by any means, despite the success of its vodka and gin too. Although I am not a whisky-drinker I can still appreciate the enormous success Dhavall and the team have had in creating such a top-quality product in such a short amount of time.
If you’d like to find out more about the Lakes Distillery and all they have to offer, take a look at their website here, and if more Holme & Away is your thing, you can catch up with me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Important Information
Cost: £12.50 per person (Standard Distillery Tour – other tours are available)
Where: Near Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria, CA13 9SJ
Notes: Booking at least 24 hours in advance is recommended. The tour is accessible for wheelchair users and there’s plenty of on-site parking.
Disclaimer: I was invited to review this venue and was provided with a free tour in exchange. This has not shaped my view in any way and this write-up reflects my honest opinion.