Archie Rose Distilling Co’s Red Gum Smoked Single Malt Whisky has been released, the first in a two-part series, and the seventh release under its Trials & Exceptions label.
Just over 2,000 bottles of the whisky have been made available for purchase. A ballot was drawn on 11 February for pre-sale and it is now available via the Archie Rose Bar in Rosebery, Sydney and www.archierose.com.au and selected bottle shops and bars.
The whisky is a triumph in local provenance borne from the distillery’s commitment to provenance and sustainability.
“We had been using peated barley from the west coast of Scotland in our whiskies,” says Master Distiller, Dave Withers. “We were dragging this grain half way across the world to be used in an Australian whisky which just didn’t feel quite right both from a provenance, and a sustainability perspective. We saw an opportunity to create an Australian smoked malt which would showcase the great Australian scent of BBQ or campfire smoke.
After a number of conversations with our mates at Voyager they agreed to support us in establishing a series of dedicated Australian native wood smoked malt trials. This release is the product of two of those trials.”
Using native NSW Red Gum to smoke the New South Wales grown and malted barley from their friends at Voyager Craft Malt, Archie Rose say that Red Gum Smoked Single Malt Whisky represents a milestone in the Australian whisky industry and in the distillery’s quest to source all of its seven malts from within NSW.
With an unwavering belief that malt provides a potent and vital contribution to the final flavour profile, and a vision for its whisky to always speak of our experience as Australians, NSW Red Gum was used in tribute to the most iconic of Australia’s Eucalypt trees.
Red Gum Smoked Single Malt Whisky represents one of the many trials conducted in the refinement of Archie Rose’s globally unique “individual malt stream” process, whereby each malt in the mash bill is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and matured separately, allowing the Archie Rose team to tailor every step of the production process, yeast selection, cask type and maturation conditions to each specific malt, rather than having to settle for “average” conditions that suit the mash bill as a whole, as is far more typical in whisky production.
“It’s a hell of a lot of work but we do it because it allows us to get the most out of the malt and really accentuate its key defining features,” says Mr Withers. “The result with this release is a distinctly Australian whisky not for the faint hearted. It has a pronounced level of smoke with notes of smoked meats and bacon as well as a strong floral presence with a salty edge.”
“This whisky is an incredible feat,” says Archie Rose founder, Will Edwards. “We are proudly an Australian distillery and when we started out, many of the unique malts we wanted to use in our whiskies were either not grown and malted in Australia or were not available in sufficient quantities. T
“his is a prime example of how we strive to, with Australian maltsters and farmers, develop new malts to push the boundaries of whisky production, improve sustainability by not shipping in foreign malt from around the world, and showcase the best of what Australia has to offer.”
MASH BILL
- Local Red Gum Smoked Pale Malt
- Local Amber Malt
- Local Chocolate Malt
- Light Crystal Malt
- Aromatic Roasted Malt
Tasting notes:
This whisky offers heady flavours redolent of campfire smoke, smoked meats, ripe nectarine, fresh jasmine and lavender. It also has an enticing salty edge to it. RRP: $199
