Archie Rose Is Releasing Whisky!
Archie Rose Distilling Co. is set to release its first two whiskies, with a scarce limited-edition Chocolate Rye Malt Whisky launching 27 June, followed by the release of its first core range Rye Malt Whisky from 1 August, nearly five years on from when the Rosebery, Sydney based distillery first began making whisky, gin, vodka and rum.
The Chocolate Rye Malt Whisky (available 27 June) is a limited edition, single batch of eight Australian Apera (Sherry) casks yielding just over 1,000 bottles under the Archie Rose Concepts label, reserved for the rarest and most interesting releases.
The only whisky of its kind in Australia, Chocolate Rye Malt Whisky uses chocolate rye (rye grains that have been lightly roasted in a fashion similar to coffee), rye malt and barley malt to yield flavours of caraway, mint, shortbread, violets, hot chocolate and fruit jams.
This whisky is an insight into one of Archie Rose’s earliest explorations of heavily roasted malts, a key step in their journey towards embracing the more challenging, lower yielding, but far more flavourful world of roasted malts, and showcasing one of the key insights into how its Rye Malt Whisky came to be.
Following this limited-edition release, from 1 August Archie Rose will release batch one of its Rye Malt Whisky as the first of its core range whiskies. As one of Australia’s most highly awarded distilleries, work-in-progress cask samples of Archie Rose Rye Malt Whisky have already been awarded Best Australian Whisky at the IWSC Awards in London 2018 and Best Australian Rye Whisky at the consumer-voted 2019 Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards in California. Using selectively sourced rare malted rye and the finest malted barley from progressive malt houses, paired with virgin American oak casks air-dried for 36 months and matured in the maritime air of coastal Sydney, it showcases Archie Rose’s focus on malt, and approach to working with rye, being a far more difficult malt to process than barley.
“Our vision for whisky has always been to speak of our experience as Australians, utilise the incredible raw materials available to us, and strive for genuine innovation in what is typically an extremely traditional industry” says Archie Rose founder, Will Edwards.
“We have crafted a distinct, charming and flavoursome spirit which showcases the quality of its components, being unique malted rye, local malted barley and incredible, painstakingly 36-month air-dried oak, as well as the innovative production methods we employ in the distillery.”
Passionate about malt being the fundamental building block to its whiskies, and backed by its conviction that whisky starts life in the field rather than the distillery, Archie Rose is working with Australian growers to support this ethos.
“We’re working with growers in Griffith, NSW to revive heritage rye and barley strains and together creating malt crop volume and diversity to support our own products and the future growth of the Australian whisky industry. Our overall goal is to source all of our seven varieties of malt from NSW, which would be a pretty special result, and one we will be incredibly proud of” says Archie Rose Master Distiller, Dave Withers.
“A successful brew, fermentation, distillation or maturation is only as good as the malt you start with”, he says. “We want to put malt back onto the agenda.”
“We’ve spent an enormous amount of time in research and development, looking at how we can create a rich and engaging, complex yet approachable whisky, and we believe we’ve made something really special,” says Edwards.
The Archie Rose whisky journey is supported by its new Botany distillery, scheduled to commence operations in late 2019. It is specifically engineered and custom built to support and complement Archie Rose’s unique production processes; including its six-malt single malt mash bill, and extensive use of specialty roasted malts and malted rye. The Botany site will also enable Archie Rose to convert its existing Rosebery facility into a dedicated research and development site, focused on new production trials and limited-edition products.
Archie Rose Chocolate Rye Malt Whisky will be available 27 June from the bar at Archie Rose Distilling Co. in Rosebery, Sydney and online at www.archierose.com.au - RRP: $149. Please view spirit data.
Archie Rose Rye Malt Whisky “1st Batch” will be available for purchase via a ballot allocation drawn on 27 July or from 1 August via www.archierose.com.au and the bar at Archie Rose Distilling Co. in Rosebery, Sydney – RRP: $119. Please view via spirit data.