Lark’s Chris Thompson talks whisky bible, wood and innovation

Lark’s Master Distiller, Chris Thomson is known for his innovative approach to creating new whiskies, but it is a meticulously developed knowledge of Lark’s bond store that helps fuel that innovation.

Chris told Bars & Cocktails that he feels like he is just on the tip of the iceberg with single malt whisky and innovation at the moment, and it is very clear that he is excited about being able to uncover more of the ice.

But the innovation that fuels Chris is not borne from luck, it comes from a huge team understanding and documenting of what is happening in every barrel.

“On average every Lark gets tasted around 55 times before it gets to the consumer, so we are an incredibly human distillery. But we are also unusual in the fact that we go through this process we call auditing. Auditing is basically, every year we try and taste every single cask in our bond store.

“At the moment that’s circa 2.4 million litres.

“We sit down as a blending team and we will go through and taste 80 to 150 whiskies every day. Obviously we are spitting and we’re doing lower ABV, but what we end up with is we have this huge document that we actually called our Bible. That has a nose, a palette, and a finish note. It has when we think the whisky will mature and any other notes [about the whisky].”

Those other notes can include details of where in the Lark portfolio the whisky might work, for instance in the next iteration of Dark Lark, but these can also help fuel innovation.

The Whisky Bible

Chris added: “What’s unusual about Lark is of our entire portfolio of 2.4 million litres, every single one of those 20,000-odd casks has its own individual plan that gets picked up at about three years.

“We can then say ‘this whisky was laid down, whenever, we think it’s going to be a great Dark Lark candidate, we thought it was going to be ready in 2026, but now we think it’ll be ready in 2028’, so we get this amazing, detailed view of the cask.

“Right now I’ll be managing our 2028 Dark Lark stock through that process, just as I will for the Classic Cask and any other of our releases. So, I have a really clear view of how much whisky is suitable for something like Dark Lark in one year, which casks are ready now, which I might push out for a little longer, or that could fill another role.”

Chris is known for his innovation, and he explained to B&C that he sees innovation in different ways, collaborating with different partners to create unique whiskies, like the Lark Chinotto Cask, which pushed boundaries of taste, and the result is a single malt experience which is unlike any other. But how does he keep pushing boundaries?

“There’s never a shortage of ideas,” he explained. “We didn’t intend to be as innovative as we have been, but what we really want to tap into is the experience to the end consumer.”

He added: “When I fell in love with whisky I said “oh my god I have never had anything like that. How amazing’. It was an incredible experience. And then you have a peated one, then a Sherry one, then a peated Sherry one, and you just go down the rabbit hole.

“But after 18 years of drinking and making whisky, they all play on the same theme right? That doesn’t mean they are not special or incredible, but there are only so many variants right? I’ve just not had anything like that first moment again. And that’s my favourite whisky moment, and I just keep coming back to that moment and that’s what I want to make because it resonates with me personally.

“But also I can go to a bar, or a show, or a tasting and it is just such a joy to watch people who have been drinking whisky for 20, 30, 40 years and then you see their faces light up. That is such a fun moment. That’s one of the things that has surprised me, internationally, how accepting and how excited the community is – whether it’s Chinotto, Christmas Cask – about just where whisky can go.”

Bringing people together

Chris also explained why that consumer-or-experience-first approach to whisky is so important to him.

“Innovation for innovation’s sake is an egotistical approach,” he told B&C, “when that happens the only person who gets that feeling is the maker. The real core of whisky is to bring people together, to bring real life and enjoyment to people’s days and to add something.”

And it is clear Chris believes he’s adding something with the latest Dark Lark release, which he described at a recent tasting as “the most drinkable whisky on the planet”, he explained that to B&C.

“OK, firstly I’m sure everyone recognises that I am completely and utterly biased, but I’m also a whisky fanatic right? I’ve been making whisky for over 18 years, and I’ve drunk a lot whisky, and it is hard to explain the reasons why it is so drinkable.

“It starts with selecting the most drinkable whiskies in our 2.4 million litres and bringing those together with some really old, incredible fortified casks from around Australia. All of these casks have been selected specifically for creating certain textural notes. Then we have come up with this novel process which actually removes a lot of those fortified notes.

“So what you end up with after this process is, I say it’s like Technicolour, bright and super fun, but has this amazing silky note that holds the whisky in place. There’s amazing silky texture, there’s surface tension that holds the whisky in place and it just makes the drinkability so slick and easy.”

Chris’ passion for whisky comes through whenever you speak to him, and there’s no doubt that passion fuels his innovation. Without the restrictions and regulations that bind whisky makes in Scotland, Chris is able to simply say ‘let’s see if that works’, and then the customer-first ethos will dictate if it makes the grade.

This is a transformative period for Lark, as it settles into its new home Pontville and CEO Sash Sharma builds his vision for the future of the brand. It’s exciting to see where that vision alongside Chris’ innovative nose for whisky will take Lark in the future.