The Lakes Distillery in England recently called upon renowned whisky maker Sarah Burgess to lead their team.
Burgess is the former lead whisky maker at The Macallan, where she focused on whisky range creation, innovation, and quality control for the single malt brand.
A statement from The Lakes Distillery noted that it was Burgess’ expertise that helped to design The Macallan Genesis, The Anecdotes of Ages Collection with Sir Peter Blake, and establish a global collaboration with the Pantone Color Institute.
Nigel Mills, co-founder of The Lakes Distillery, said that Burgess has also been crafting a luxury lifestyle collection of drinks telling the story of Speyside at one of the world’s oldest whisky hotels.
Now, she brings more than 25 years of whisky-making passion and knowledge to The Lakes at a time when “we are accelerating production and planning for international growth,” Mills added. “We are delighted to welcome Sarah to our team. Not only does she bring a wealth of experience and creativity, but Sarah’s inclusive desire to guide, support, and develop our existing whisky making team is something we are very excited about.”
He said she has an acute understanding of the complete whisky making process, and her “hands-on approach to taking concepts from inception through to creation aligns flawlessly with our whisky making philosophy. It is a very exciting time for us all.”
Burgess is native to Speyside, and notes that whisky is a passion she loves to share with others. “I first started at Cardhu Distillery on my 21st birthday, and have led a multitude of different functions, from visitor centers to health and safety and warehousing, and, of course, whisky making.”
She studied for her BA in Management at Robert Gordon University while working full-time as a site operations manager for Diageo.
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“The university was an hour’s drive away, and I attended lectures two nights every week,” Burgess noted. “In my last year, I was promoted to senior site manager at Clynelish Distillery, so the drive became about three hours each way. It was very tiring, but an achievement I look back on with great pride.”
Burgess said she’s intrigued by The Lakes as a new distillery, but one creating high-quality whisky. “I’m excited to be part of a new and innovative operation and I am sure between my creativity and the quality casks we have in maturation, that many great whiskies will follow.”
In her two decades of work for Diageo, she managed the Oban, Glenkinchie and Clynelish distilleries.
Burgess takes over at The Lakes from Dhavall Gandhi who, in January of 2022, opened a whisky consultancy alongside his role at The Lakes.
Tim Farazmand, chairman at The Lakes Distillery, said Dhavall has played an instrumental role in what has been an extraordinary journey for The Lakes over the past five years. The distillery’s Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.4 was named the World’s Best Single Malt Whisky at the 2022 World Whiskies Awards.
“Dhavall has dedicated himself artistically to the distillery and helped us to forge a clear vision and philosophy for our whisky making. For that, we will be forever grateful,” Farazmand added.
Burgess officially joined The Lakes Distillery on Jan. 5th, working with Dhavall to hand over The Lakes’ 2023 bottlings before taking over responsibility for all whisky making operations.
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