Three of seven ‘The One’ series complete I am moving onto The Lakes Distilleries ‘Makers Series’. Having found my experience with the blended One series slightly flat and lacklustre (Moscatel excepted) I have high hopes for the Makers series that reflects 100% Lakes Distillery spirt, as opposed to the blended grain and malt from all over Scotland in the Ones. The Whisky Maker’s Series are special-edition single malts which showcase our whisky maker's sense of adventure in cask selection, maturation, and blending. What does the distillery have to say about this offering: “Made with carefully designed pockets of flavour from our bespoke collection of oak casks, the latest Edition, Mosaic, is a story told through art and flavour. Taking inspiration from the Silk Road, the ancient intercontinental avenue of east-west trade and cultural exchange, it draws together a sense of adventure from East and West, uniting eclectic influences and flavours in a singular, sophisticated expression. Taking you on a journey through time and cultural becoming, it seeks to immerse you in a tale of two worlds with a mellow, rustic elegance in keeping with its cosmopolitan influences” I’ll be honest, I have no idea what all that means. Blah blah blah, lots of wank. Let’s get stuck in… N: Rich and velvety. Oozing caramel that carries with it fresh oak, spicy chilli, and a honey sweetness. The faintest hint of sherry casking as dried fruit and bitter cocoa. I am sat greedily inhaling this simple, but richly engaging nose. P: A punchy arrival that is packed with early chilli spice fading into milky toffee with a hint of orange and vanilla. Plenty of wood backs a light dried fruit and brown sugar richness. The chilli spice, on subsequent tastes turns more exotic with a general herbal-spice, maybe cardamon or caraway? Engaging, and I already want another pour, thats a pretty good outcome. F: Medium-long. Just the right amount of drying to allow the creamy wood to linger after the fruit and sugar fade with warming spices (toasty cumin?) hanging around until the last. OK. Yep, I like this. There is wonderful interesting flavours against a back drop of solid classic textures and flavours. There is a really rustic and simple element to this but also carefully crafted, additive quality of flavour from what must be some really good cask selection. I can see the distilleries maturation from the One Series already, and their core spirit has clearly married excellently well. I would enjoy this even more if a little of the chilli could be backed off and the more herbal-spices bought forward. Everything else is very much on point. [Pictured here with one of Englands, and the Lake Districts, most famous rocks; the Shap Granite. This is a 397 million year old intrusive rock from around 55 miles south east of the Lakes Distillery. This rock isn’t really a granite though it is a quartz monzonite; because clearly anyone reading this will care deeply about the slight lack of quartz versus a granite] Distiller whisky taste #128