Lakes Distillery set for launch
A NEW Cumbrian business and tourist attraction is aiming to capture a little bit of Scottish spirit.
Four years in the pipeline and costing £6m, the The Lakes Distillery, is already producing whisky, gin and vodka and opens its doors to the public as a tourist attraction on December 16.
The distillery, near Bassenthwaite Lake, between Keswick and Cockermouth, is expecting to attract 55,000 visitors every year. Its senior team comprises managing director Paul Currie who co-founded the Arran Distillery in Scotland, master distiller Chris Anderson who has more than 30 years’ experience and Alan Rutherford is a former production director of drinks manufacturer Diageo.
The distillery’s three handmade copper stills – wash, spirit and gin – arrived on site in June, The stills, made near Edinburgh by specialist manufacturer McMillan, have a capacity of 5,500 litres, which will enable the business to produce one million bottles of English single malt per year, in addition to The Lakes Gin and The Lakes Vodka.
Founder and managing director of The Lakes Distillery, Paul Currie, said: “We are evry excited and have paid great attention to the plant installed in the distillery to ensure the very highest quality of our spirits, whcih we are already exporting.
“We’ve also introduced a number of innovations to the process which are at the cutting edge of distilling – we are the first distillery to use both copper and stainless steel in our distilling process which we believe will develop a malt with a greater character.”
He said the venture had been supported by private investors and would create 45 jobs.
Visitors will be able tour the distillery to see how the Lakes Malt, the Lakes Gin and the Lakes Vodka are made, as well as being able to visit the warehouse filled with the maturing whisky.
The attraction also includes a 70-cover bistro-restuarant housed on site in the converted Victorian model farm.
Mr Currie, 50, added: “The climate is perfect for whisky production and being based in the Lake District is great four our brand too – eveyone, from Tokyo to New York knows about The Lakes.”
