In a creative shake-up to its whisky-making team, The Lakes Distillery has appointed Sarah Burgess to be its new Whiskymaker.
Having previously worked at Diageo for more than two decades, managing the Oban, Glenkinchie and Clynelish distilleries - Sarah is best known for her role as the lead Whiskymaker at The Macallan.
There, she focused on whisky range creation, innovation and quality control for one of the world’s most revered single malts (it was Sarah’s expertise that helped to design The Macallan Genesis and The Anecdotes of Ages Collection with Sir Peter Blake).
On leaving her more recent role as creative director at The Craigellachie, Sarah brings more than 25 years of whisky-making passion and knowledge to The Lakes Distillery at a time when they are accelerating production and planning for rapid international growth.
No doubt that part of the reason she was selected was not just her experience, but how well her philosophy fits with the current vision for the distillery's house style - Sarah’s love for the whisky industry, and in particular sherry casks is well known.
Sarah takes over the top job from Dhavall Gandhi who helped transform the distillery's whisky production and shaped its path over the past five years. She is working together with Dhavall to hand over The Lakes’ 2023 bottlings before taking over responsibility for all whisky making operations therefafter.
You can find out more about The Lakes Distillery here: Lakes Whisky
