The Lakes Distillery Whiskymaker's Reserve No. 5 52% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (86)

No.1 was good, No.2 was very good, and No.3 was very good as well. I may have missed No.4. In any case, this No.5 was aged in oloroso, PX and red wine casks, which to me, sounds a bit like Blue Öyster Cult and their three guitars (plus bass) rather than Hendrix OR Page. Are we boomers or not? Colour: very deep gold. Nose: the casks had been well taken care of, we get no screeches or wrong notes, rather a jammy unfolding with blackberry jelly, molasses and maple syrup, raspberry ganache or truffles (chocolate) and pecan pie. Some floral tones coming out too, such as iris and lilac, plus jasmine, and then rather a lot of various halvas, pistachio, peanut…. With water: not that massive, which is not a bad thing. Pumpernickel. Mouth (neat): coffee, raspberry eau-de-vie and cartloads of chocolate. Then fudge, a little orange squash, and a lot of praline, nougat and, yeah, halva. Good creamy texture. With water: a savoury, salty, nutty side popping out, is that the oloroso taking the lead? Finish: long and spicier, as expected. Lemons plus rather a lot of ginger, nutmeg and turmeric. A little mocha in the aftertaste. And chocolate! Comments: I find it excellent; it avoided all the pitfalls of this kind of set-up. Three guitars and all…

BOW (90)

Malt Fascination (83)

Sniff:
The nose on this one is fairly simple. There’s some sherry, with a bit of a youthful spirit undertone. Maturation was cut short, or forced with woody flavors. Let’s keep in mind that that is not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a peach cobbler with basil and another crisp note there. Maybe something yoghurt like.

Sip:
The palate starts with a note of charcoal and sweet, fruity pork barbecue marinade. So, young whisky with oloroso sherry? I think so. Definitely some lighter red fruits, raspberries, blackberries. Quite a bit of oak and twig like bitterness.

Swallow:
The finish initially dries the palate which makes the hotter notes sing a bit over-actively. But when it starts mellowing there’s mostly the twig like bitterness that lingers on top of sharp red fruits.

Even though this started out as a 90 point whisky when I bought it, it’s not that. Tasty, but not great.