It is an interesting time to be a whisky distiller in Australia. The excise rate recently tipped over $100 per litre; new distilleries continue to come to market with their debut release; competition for the consumers’ dollar grows; the back bars at the on-premise venues are more crowded than ever…and all against the backdrop of rising interest rates and falling sales in certain price bands. You’ve thus got to “dip your lid” to the distilleries that are driving onwards and upwards. Archie Rose is one such distillery, and the new Archie Rose Double Malt is a great example of this….
Archie Rose was founded in Sydney in 2014, originally setting up shop in a converted warehouse at Rosebery. The original facility is still there and serves as the Cellar Door (as well as being home to one of Sydney’s better whisky bars), although production moved to new premises at Banksmeadow a few years ago now. The new distillery is one of the largest in Australia (it’s been whispered it’s now the largest…and that’s including the likes of Bundaberg Rum!), noting that Archie Rose makes not just whisky (both the malt and rye varieties) but also gin, rum, vodka, and other unique spirits.
The foundation of Archie Rose’s (barley) malt whisky is their six grain mashbill. Whilst nearly all other whisky distilleries mash and ferment a single variety of malt – usually chosen for ease of use, efficiency, and alcohol yield – Archie Rose instead pursues flavour, opting to work with six different types of malted barley. Some of these offer a relatively low alcohol yield, making them an expensive choice, but they evidently contribute much in the way of character and flavour. To give this some context: A distillery focusing on yield will be aiming to get around 400 litres of pure alcohol per tonne of malt. In contrast to this, one of the specialty malts used by Archie Rose typically yields just 40 litres per tonne!
When producing their wash at the original Rosebery facility, the six different grains were combined into a single mash and fermented as a combined unit, for the wash to then be distilled. This, itself, had inherent inefficiencies and did not fully optimise what the individual grains could offer. For example, to get the fruity notes on offer from the pale malt, you need a long fermentation and then a high cut when distilling to capture the esters. However, if you want to get the biscuity, chocolate notes out of the amber or chocolate malts, you’ll want a shorter fermentation and to then cut lower in the distillation run. Combining the different malts prior to fermentation certainly created an interesting wash and some very tasty spirit at their original facility (the Six Grain New Make was actually sold as an unaged product), but the process meant the production team were compromising the potential of the different grains at various processes and points along the way.
The new distillery at Banksmeadow eliminates these compromises, and the distillery operates what must surely be one of the most advanced, sophisticated, and purpose-controlled productions on the planet. Each of the six malts are individually mashed; individually fermented; individually distilled; and then individually matured. In other words, the distillery is effectively making six different types of malt whisky. These six different spirit streams can then be filled into a diverse range of casks for maturation: Ex-bourbon casks, ex-sherry casks (sourced from both Spain and also Australian ex-Apera; both oloroso and pedro ximinez), and virgin oak casks. The number of different combinations and permutations this offers is huge…and that’s before you bring in the additional combinations by factoring that each of those different cask types can then come in three varieties (i.e. American oak, European oak, and French oak), and then also whether you’re using first-fills or re-fills.
The Archie Rose “signature” whisky is then, effectively, a vatting (yes, okay, a blended malt) of those six different, individual whiskies concocted to achieve the desired flavour profile. For those familiar with what goes on inside the Loch Lomond distillery in Scotland, Archie Rose is equally multi-faceted. The same versatility and production methods are also employed in creating Archie Rose’s malted rye whisky.
Which all then brings us to the Archie Rose Double Malt. Now double malt is not a new term in Australian whisky circles per se. Indeed, right back in the late 1990’s, Cradle Mountain sold their Double Malt, which was a vatting of Cradle Mountain and Springbank. (By the bye…yours truly purchased and consumed a bottle of this back in about 2003. Despite the pedigree, it was not a great whisky). More recently, we’ve seen several collaborative releases where two distilleries have created a blended malt from their respective spirits, such as the well-regarded “Country to Coast” releases from Black Gate and Fleurieu. However, all those releases were double malts in the traditional sense of the term. That is, a single malt from one distillery + a single malt from another distillery. The Archie Rose Double Malt is something altogether different and unique: It is a combining of two different categories of malt whisky using two different cereals. It is barley malt whisky + rye malt whisky.
The Archie Rose Rye is a highly-regarded and award-winning product that the distillery launched well before their (barley) single malt was released to market. Once upon a time, many whisk(e)y drinkers planted themselves firmly in either the Scotch style or the American (i.e. bourbon/rye) style camps, with little crossover. However, an increasing number of drinkers today find themselves appreciating both styles. The Archie Rose Double Malt thus offers the best of both worlds!
The Archie Rose Double Malt had its official media launch just last week. Will Edwards, distillery owner/founder, and Dave Withers, Master Distiller, were on hand to tell the assembled audience all the ins and outs of the whisky. Interestingly, there was also an opportunity to taste four of the component malts that make up the blend. In one of the more interesting vertical tastings one can do, attendees tasted the Pale Malt (ex-bourbon cask), the Pale Malt (ex-sherry cask), the Amber Malt (ex-bourbon cask), and the Rye Malt (virgin American oak cask), before then trying the final product they all contribute to. The four component whiskies tasted on the night make up 90% of what goes into the final blend; in addition to some other malt variants, a second rye whisky also contributes. It is worth noting that all four of these “ingredients” were perfectly good whiskies in their own right and could easily be bottled as individual single malts.
The Archie Rose Double Malt is the third release in the distillery’s Fundamental Spirits range, joining its gin and vodka stablemates. The Fundamental Spirits range is intended to present premium and affordable spirits that are solid and versatile enough to work on the speed rails of the on-premise venues, but still be complex, full-flavoured, and capable of appealing to the enthusiasts. In the case of the Double Malt, it’s intended to be used in the venues in place of bourbon, rye, or blended Scotch whisky, while also giving whisky drinkers the option to switch to an all-malt, local whisky for the first time. With its complex and tasty flavour, together with the very attractive price point of just A$85, it certainly appeals to both the on-premise trade and the whisky drinker at home.
So with all that as background (and that’s more background than you’ll get with most whiskies!), what’s it actually like? Tasting it straight on the back of trying four of its component spirits, the whiskies certainly displayed the traits and characteristics of what went into it, offering complexity and nuances. Our tasting notes as follows:
Archie Rose Double Malt, 40% ABV, RRP $85
Nose: Light citrus on the nose (blood orange), apricots, fruit jam, sweetness, and spice.
Palate: The mouthfeel is wonderfully creamy and full. Toffee and milk coffee notes are evident; there’s some savoury contribution in the form of roasted nuts; and a hint of spice from the rye.
Finish: Wonderfully sweet, the finish is medium in length, bringing chocolate notes into the mix.
Comments: A beguiling whisky! It’s easy drinking, yet complex. Soft, yet with depth. Fruity, yet still with a maltiness and weight behind it. It does exactly what it sets out to do, which is to bring the best of both worlds – malted barley and malted rye – to the glass. At a price point of just $85, it is one of the most keenly priced Australian malts on the market, noting that it is, indeed, a malt.
Keen to score yourself a bottle? It will shortly be available from good retailers, or you can buy direct from the distillery via their online shop here.
Well done to the AR team.
Cheers,
AD
PS…you might like this feature piece we did on Archie Rose back in 2018 when their Six Grain New Make was first launched…
PPS…want to read more about Australian whisky? Have a quick scroll through all of our articles on Aussie whisky here.
