In just over a decade, the Lakes Distillery has gone from being a derelict dairy farm to one of the brightest stars in the English whisky firmament.
Commissioned during 2014 by Paul Currie and associates near Bassenthwaite Lake, The Lakes launched its first bottling named Genesis four years later, followed by a series of limited Whiskymaker’s Reserve and Whiskymaker’s Editions releases.
2022 saw Whiskymaker’s Reserve No 4 crowned World's Best Single Malt, making The Lakes the first English distillery to claim the title, and and its first permanent single malt expression, named Signature, appeared in March 2025.
Award-winning gins and vodkas are also produced, and the ongoing success of The Lakes did not go unnoticed by the wider drinks industry. In 2024 English sparkling wine producer Nyetimber acquired the distillery in a deal worth £71m.
September 2025 saw Brendan McCarron appointed to the key role of ‘whisky maker’, replacing Sarah Burgess, formerly of The Macallan, who left to pursue an opportunity closer to her home in north-east Scotland.
McCarron’s CV includes spells with Diageo at Oban and on Islay, head of maturing whisky stocks at The Glenmorangie Co and master distiller for Distell — now CVH Spirits — working with Bunnahabhain, Deanston and Tobermory distilleries.
Latterly, McCarron has pursued a successful career as a consultant, working with whisky making ventures in China, Japan, Korea and Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. He now combines consultancy work with his Lakes Distillery role.
According to McCarron, “Before I took the job, I knew The Lakes whisky as a consumer, and thought it was the best English single malt whisky out there.
“I’m always wanting to learn more, and people doing interesting things appeal. When I met the Lakes team I liked them, and there’s the next generation coming through with the likes of Grace Frith, assistant whisky maker, and Bruce Smith, head of distilling and whisky operations.
“I’m very hands-on. I spend a week each month on-site at the distillery, and my role encompasses everything from the start to finish of whisky making. It includes raw materials, recipes, strategy, and buying and laying down casks. I sign off on all the parcels of whisky before they are vatted together and also spend time mentoring Grace and Bruce, who are extremely talented.”
Central to the Lakes philosophy of making whisky is the concept of ‘élevage,’ and McCarron notes that “I’d learnt about wine and élevage when working with Moet Hennessy, and I was fascinated by the fact that the Lakes team was bringing the concept to whisky.”
McCarron describes élevage as “elevating something on its journey,” explaining that “It’s about looking at every stage of production and maturation to see if we can make it even better.
“With élevage maturation we sample our casks a lot! Before it’s one year old, every cask has been pulled for sampling. We sometimes change casks before the spirit is a year old. Some will be exceptional or different in some way, and we either protect those for the future or perhaps transfer the spirit into a weaker cask to expose what is so special.
“We are exploring different ABVs and ranges of ages of the casks we use. There is a lot of sampling and a lot of moving. The aim is to give every single cask the perfect maturation. We are ‘course-correcting’ all through a cask’s life.
“If you fill something special it’s better to know after nine months rather than nine years, but it’s not for the faint-hearted! It’s teaching me so much and it’s fantastic for the whiskies. Every so often, a cask shows up that is so amazing it has to be released, either alone or with others that complement it, that have gone on the same unlikely journey.”
While such ‘amazing’ limited editions will always be part of The Lakes’ release philosophy, McCarron explains that “If you’re going to be around for a long time as a company, as a brand, you really need wonderful core products. You need to map out the style of the Lakes and what brings people back to it.”
Accordingly, a great deal of attention is being focused on Signature single malt, matured in European and American oak Oloroso and PX sherry casks, “Creating consistency and letting it gain traction,” as McCarron puts it.
He notes that “There is a place for American oak and red wines casks with the Lakes, but sherry cask maturation works really well for us. Oloroso matches the spirit character best – rich and indulgent. Sherry wood is at the heart of the Lakes’ maturation programme.”
Describing the new make spirit as “fruity and complex,” McCarron declares that “I think people are getting obsessed with light, fruity spirit. I want more style to come from the spirit itself. We get fleshy white and stone fruits and a nicely layered texture. It can hold its character with sherry casks and not be overwhelmed.
“We do long and extremely long fermentations. Some three-day fermentations and some over 100 hours across a weekend. We are going to run a series of fermentation trials, taking a week to try lots of permutations of fermentation and maturation. We have lots of fermentation space, as a new fermentation hall was added in 2020, housing eight more stainless steel washbacks.
“We create clear wort with very careful mashing, and steady, slow distillation in our pair of small stills adds another layer of complexity. We are on the west coast, with lots of clean, fresh air and water. It’s a great place for making and maturing whisky all year round.”
In addition to Signature, the Lakes’ first global travel retail (GTR) exclusive bottling Boundless, matured exclusively in first-fill in oloroso sherry casks, was launched in 2024, and last September Boundless was joined by Ascent in the GTR portfolio. Brendan McCarron describes Ascent as “Drawing out more complexity with bourbon, oloroso and red wine casks,” noting that “GTR is big for the brand.”
McCarron concludes that “I’m excited about distilling overall, so the growth of the English whisky sector is great. The more places with a proper focus on long-term whisky making, the better it is for the category as a whole and for the consumer.”
