Archie Rose Six Malt New Make (Tasted #392)

Archie Rose, our local favourite distillery here in Sydney has always been known for its innovative ways with recent releases including the Archie Rose X KAIJU! Beer Aged Spirit, Agricole Rhums (using fresh cane juice from Condog, NSW) and the beautiful Archie Rose x Horisumi Gin Set. Notwithstanding these releases, they also offer customers the ability to craft and tailor their own gin, vodka and whisky - the latter includes help with maturation at the distillery.

Continuing with their innovative pursuit in the spirit scene, later this week, Archie Rose will launch another limited release - this time in the form of a new make blend, derived from six different malt mash bills (six malt wash).

Simply named Six Malt New Make, this new make spirit release will provide some insights into how the base spirit of Archie Rose's (soon to be released) Single Malt Whisky starts its life - unaged, unfiltered and raw. Having tasted the new make, the spirit embodies the quality and depth that you will definitely see in the final, aged Archie Rose whisky. Though what is interesting is all the elements that you get when the different malts are mixed together.

The use of six malt mash bills is different from the typical single malt whiskies which more commonly feature only around one or two malt mash bills. As commonly known, different malt results in different whisky profile and with the six malts combined, the resultant spirit is one that embodies the unique flavour profile of all the different malts. The six malts that were used for this release include:

• Local pale malt; derived from La Trobe barley from a single estate in NSW
• Local amber malt; comes from a single field in Barellan, NSW and provides a chalky, shortbread, biscuit notes
• Local caramel malt; produced by stewing the barley to the point where the sugar can be caramelised 
• Local aromatic roasted malt; provides chocolate, cookie dough notes
• Local white chocolate malt; made from a single field in NSW, roasted in small batches and provides espresso, dark chocolate notes
• Local peated malt; the origin of the peat kept a secret though this particular peated malt has been made exclusively for the Six Malt New Make

So how does it smell and taste? Absolutely fascinating and assertive. Nose is fruity and layered with dried banana, stewed apple, cinnamon porridge. On the palate, dry weet bix, raspberries, oats, granola and muesli bar. It's different, delicate and balanced and very much enjoyable on its own or mixed with cocktails such as the New Make Old Fashioned that is served at the Bar.

Bottled at 50% ABV and with 3,000 bottles being released this week, on July 19, the Six Malt New Make might disappear rather quickly. It is available for purchase from the Archie Rose Shop.

Also being released on the same day is “Spirit Data,” a new feature on the Archie Rose's website www.archierose.com.au, which provides a deeper look into the whisky production on a batch by batch basis, detailed tasting and production notes from the distillery floor and bond store. This is akin to what Compass Box has been advocating for, transparency over facts on various aspects that make up the final spirit.

Thanks to Will, Dave and team as well as Melinda Durston of Melting Pot Communications for having us at the tasting of this new Six Malt New Make.

Distillery Tour #6: Amrut Distilleries (Bangalore, India) (Tasted #217)

If you were to say our Distillery Tour posts had a theme, it would surely have to be "Not Scottish" (don't worry, those tours have happened, they were awesome, and the posts will be up soon). So far we've covered distillery visits in Melbourne, Sydney, Japan (twice), and Taiwan, and now it's India's  turn.

This tour was originally planned for 2013, but after having to cancel a work trip to Bangalore for personal reasons, it wasn't until 2015 that another chance came up. I needed to make a quick Mon-Fri trip to Bangalore for work, and took the opportunity to ask Amrut Distilleries if I'd be able to take a look around the distillery on the Saturday. Thankfully they were more than happy to have me, and so the plan was set.

Saturday rolls around, and we (myself and a colleague) make the journey out to South West Bangalore (25km, a little over an hour) in a hotel car. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but we did learn that our tour would be conducted by Master Distiller Surrinder Kumar, who had kindly come in on his day off to show us around!

Surrinder, with a whopping 29 years of experience under his belt, started by talking us through the fascinating story of how Amrut Single Malt came to be, and how even though it makes up an incredibly small percentage of their total output (details further on), it's put them on the global map.

To most whisky drinkers, Amrut was unheard-of until their single malt started gaining a global following in the late 2000's. The company however has been actually been making spirit since 1948 (initially "IMFL", or "Indian-made Foreign Liquor" distilled from molasses), and was producing Indian "whisky" a long time before the single malt came along. In fact, an excess of malt whisky (previously used for blending popular local Indian blended "whiskies"), which the distillery noted was of significantly higher quality than most other Indian whiskies, was one of the catalysts for the launch of Amrut Single Malt.

3rd generation owner and son of current Chairman, Rakshit Jagdale (studying his MBA at the time in England) was asked to investigate launching a single malt product outside India, starting with the UK. The product was already there - they just needed to get it into the public's conscious. Research showed that the public perceived it to be similar in style to a 15-18yr old Speysider, and so a plan was drawn up to launch it in the UK - initially in Indian restaurants, taking the same approach as Indian beers like Kingfisher and Cobra.

After some time, volumes weren't picking up and the company considered ending the project, but (taking a renewed spirit of perseverance from the Gahdhi statue in London), Rakshit forged on, seeking importers for each country and...well the rest is history, with Amrut currently available in 22 countries (although still very limited in India).

I mentioned Amrut Single Malt being an "incredibly small percentage" of Amrut's total production. How small? Well, there are approximately 14,000 x 4.5L cases of Amrut Single Malt produced each year (a total of 63,000L), compared to 200,000 x 9L cases produced of all other products.....per month! In other words - 21,600,000L, making the single malt about 0.2% of total production. A very successful 0.2%, you'd have to say!

Unsurprisingly, Amrut can't keep up with worldwide demand for that 63,000L, and are currently increasing warehousing from their current 6 warehouses. They're also experimenting with temperature-controlled warehouses, like some Bourbon distilleries in the US, but for now it remains an experimentation only.

Just before Surrinder took us out to tour the operations, he mentioned that a new product was on the horizon - "Greedy Angel's Chairman's Reserve", at an incredible 10 years old ("incredible" considering the distillery experiences 10-12% Angels' share each year). That product has since been released (and likely sold out) - and comes with a 50mL cask-strength sample of the whisky at 71% ABV.

By this stage we'd spent a good 90 minutes with the clearly passionate Surrinder, and our tour was no less comprehensive, taking another 90 minutes and showing us into all facets of the operation, which employs hundreds of staff from Bangalore.

Production of all products occurs via two 7.5hr shifts each day, with the single malt being distilled on a Monday. Temperature controlled fermentation takes 1 week (kept under 30degC), and whilst we didn't get to taste the wash (at 6.5-7% ABV), we did taste the new make (73% ABV off the still, 63% ABV into the cask), which was fruity, oily, rich, subtly peaty (on the palate, not the nose) and incredibly smooth.

We got to talking about distillery visits, and Surrinder mentioned a visit to a popular Lowland distillery (he didn't mention it by name, but we figured out it was Auchentoshan) where he noted some tips for triple distillation. Despite only having two stills (that's them above), Surrinder experimented with triple-distilled Amrut about 3 years ago, and mentioned that it was currently ageing away in the underground "cellar" - possibly a year or two away from release...

...which of course, was my queue to try my luck, and ask if I could taste it. Before I knew it, Surrinder was asking one of the production managers to fetch a sample from the "cellar", and a few minutes later, this vibrant orange sample appeared:

Triple Distilled Amrut (name not yet known) (64% ABV, ~3yo, Karnataka, India, not yet available)
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Colour: Intensely vibrant orange.
Nose: Light, citrusy. Lemon oil. Some esthers and some caramel chews.
Palate: Light, zesty. Lemon cheese cake. Young and hot, but very drinkable. In another 12-18 months I imagine it will be incredible.
Finish: Very long, lots of caramel chews.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Exciting stuff. After a look at the malt mill, the delivery setup (which receives 16-17 trucks per day) and the fermentation tanks, it was time to venture into one of the warehouses.

Maturation Warehouse 1 (just next to the still room) is home to casks racked 5 high, including a few weird and wonderful whiskies which have featured in recent and soon-to-be-released (we hope) whiskies. Chief amongst these was this cask of Amrut "Naarangi", which saw Amrut age sherry infused with orange peels in the cask for 3 years, before emptying it, then ageing an already 3 year old sherry-matured Amrut for another 3 years in said cask. The resulting whisky is said to have some subtle, but noticeable orange notes, without being considered a "flavoured" whisky.

Next, it was off to the bottling and packaging floors, where I saw whiskies the likes of which I'd never seen before. How so? Take a look for yourself...

That's right - Tetra-pak "whisky"! This is an example of the local blended "whisky" Amrut produces for the local market, and sells for mere cents. The packaging line for these products runs 24 hours a day - such is the popularity of these throughout India.

Having seen the production, ageing and packaging facilities, it was time to visit Surrinder's "lab", with a variety of International and local whiskies, and several single cask samples (Amrut do a great private cask program, which was taken up by Dram Full with the recent Dram Full Amrut bottling - now sold out).

Amrut aren't allowed to sell any bottles from the distillery, but we were kindly gifted a 50mL mini each - continuing my tradition of collecting miniatures from distilleries I've visited.

..and with that, it was time to draw the tour to a close, and head back to the city, then the airport, then back to HK. An extremely informative and enjoyable day, and a tour I'm very glad I (finally) got to take.

A huge thanks must go to Surrinder, Ashok and Pramod for making this tour happen - especially Surrinder for spending so much time with us on his day off. If you ever find yourself in Bangalore and have some spare time, I can highly recommend booking a tour of this fascinating distillery.

Cheers,
Martin.

Distilery Tour #5 and Bar Review #16: Archie Rose Distilling Company (Sydney, Australia) (Tasted #193-194)

If you fancy yourself a fan of whisky, especially "world whisky", you'll no doubt know that Australian whisky has been exploding in popularity of late (and with good reason - for the most part, it's bloody good stuff).

Despite the fact that many people automatically associate "Australian whisky" with "Tasmanian whisky", there are a number of quality whiskies (or soon-to-be whiskies) being produced in other states, including Victoria (New World Whisky Distillery, Bakery Hill), Western Australia (Great Southern Distilling Co) and now right in the heart of Sydney, New South Wales, with the recent opening of Archie Rose Distilling Co.

When I first heard about Archie Rose, I've got to admit I was more than a little excited. A new whisky distillery, right in my home city of Sydney, with Dave Withers (formerly of The Oak Barrel and one of the most knowledgable whisky folk I know) at the helm of production? How could we Sydney whisky fans not be excited?!

The excitement grew when I started seeing pictures and hearing more about the distillery, including the amazing bar, the tours, and the spirits being produced.

Fast forward to Easter time, when Steph and I were back in Sydney and the aforementioned Dave was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to give us an in-depth tour and tasting of the spirits being produced. It was my fourth distillery tour in 5 months, across 3 different countries (none of them Scotland, although that's happening next month)...and easily the one I was most looking forward to.

Archie Rose is located in Rosebery, in the same former industrial complex as Kitchen by Mike and Black Star Pastry. The impressive space is conveniently split into two by a walkway - on one side, the production and cask storage, on the other, the (hugely impressive) bar, designed by the same team behind The Grounds of Alexandria (where we attended the Tullamore D.E.W tasting last year).

We (wisely) started our tour on the production side, where Dave talked us through a number of interesting points about the distillery, including:

• The two different maltings currently used - malted barley and malted rye
• The equipment - including the hopper which takes a 600kg mash, is hand spun and is a "pain" when working the rye
• The mash tun and stills, created by Peter Bailly of Tasmania (who also produced Old Hobart Distillery's stills)
• The Italian-made fermenters, with water jacketing to control temperature
• The two main stills (the steam-heated wash still - the largest in Australia at 3,600L, and the spirit still at 1,700L),
• The smaller (300L) gin still - a modified Carter-head still through which 14 botanicals impart the gin's flavour, including Lemon myrtle, blood lime, juniper, angelia root, ginger and orange.
• The use of "Loch Rosebery" water - aka Sydney town water (although Sydney town water that's been twice carbon-filtered and passed through a UV filter, mind you.)

The new make spirit comes off the stills at 70% ABV, and is described as robust due to the short, squat stills and narrow necks. Dave (who it has to be said, has a fantastic palate / nose) describes the foreshots as having notes of "permanent markets", the hearts as "honey" and the tails as "lamb fat". Very distinctive then!

Interestingly, the (white) rye currently being sold isn't exactly the same new make as goes into the barrels for aging - it's a spirit made specifically to be enjoyed unaged, by ensuring a lower temperature towards the end of fermentation. For the spirit that is aged though, Archie Rose vat 4-5 barrels' worth at a time, and use virgin oak for the rye (and a future bourbon release), and Buffalo Trace barrels (re-charred in Tasmania) for others.

Steph and I were fortunate enough to taste Archie Rose's Rye that had been aged for a whole 1 day. Whilst not a whisky, and only at 27% ABV, it was an interesting insight into what the future might hold...


Archie Rose 1 day old Rye (27% ABV, 1 day old, Sydney, Australia)
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Colour: More than you'd think for one day old (I guess the virgin oak helps). Pale straw.
Nose: Banoffee pie with thick rich caramel.
Palate: More Banoffee pie / banana notes. Sweet.
Finish: Short as you might expect, with some toffee and caramel notes at the end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. Not overly complex (c'mon, it's a new born and only 27% ABV), but incredibly smooth, absolutely no harshness whatsoever, and with the potential to turn into a robust, complex and fantastic whisky. If it's this good after 1 day, I can't wait to try it with a few years under its belt.

Dave went on to explain that, under current legislation in New South Wales, a distiller can't apply for a licence until the entire operation is pretty much ready to go. Building acquired and equipment purchased and installed. That's a pretty significant outlay for someone to make with no guarantee of a licence! Luckily, there were no such concerns with Archie Rose. For what it's worth, in our opinion a destination like this can only be a good thing for Sydney - not just to put NSW back on the "Aussie Whisky" map, but from a City of Sydney tourism perspective too.

Archie Rose run tours where they open the distillery to the public, allow visitors to see the production and even taste some of the product, during and after production. At $10AUD (tour) or $20 (tour + tasting), it's pretty good value. Details here.

With our tour over, it was onto the bar....

...and what a stunning bar it was. With a copper bar and booths that look like large wooden mashtuns, the spirits theme clearly runs right throughout the venue (and just in case you forgot where you where, there are barrels stacked 4 high and 12 wide right above said booths).

With a large education / function space upstairs, expert mixologists mixing cocktails from 12pm to 10pm 7 days/week, and an incredible spirits selection (don't fancy an Archie Rose white rye, gin or vodka? How does a Pappy van Winkle 23 grab you? Or a Smith's Angaston 14yo?), the bar is the sort of venue you could happily call your local (and from what we saw, it seems many already are).

Given we were inside a distillery though, it would have been rude not to try the line-up (Vodka, Gin and White Rye). All were smooth, very sippable and impeccably made, but this is a whisky blog after all, and so we'll focus on the White Rye here.

Archie Rose White Rye (40% ABV, unaged, Sydney, Australia)
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Colour: As naked (clear) as the day it was born.
Nose: White chocolate.
Palate: Rich, thick, chewy. Chocolate and hazelnuts, with some meatiness. Robust and complex for an unaged spirit.
Finish: Some slight vegetal notes (asparagus?!), more hazelnuts and a short to medium length.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. There are new makes I can't stand, and others I could happily sip neat. This definitely falls into the latter category.

If you're a whisky fan living in Sydney (and even if you're not a whisky fan), we highly recommend dropping by Archie Rose at least for a drink, if not for a tour. Judging by the number of (non-whisky fanatic) friends I've seen having a great time here on Facebook, Archie Rose are onto an absolute winner here, and we can't wait to see what goodies they produce in the coming years.

All the best fellas.

Time for Whisky would like to thank Archie Rose (and especially Dave Withers) for taking the time to give us an in-depth tour and tasting. 

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #174: Georgia Moon Corn Spirit (#101drams)

Years ago, when dad and I first visited Scotland and the UK, we noticed a curious-looking "whiskey" called "Georgia Moon"at The Whisky Exchange in London (a shop I recently returned to and was pleased to see it was as much an enthusiast destination as before).

The "whiskey" caught my eye because:

1. It came in a jar (and this is before drinking alcohol from a jar became de rigueur in Hipsterland)
2. It was clear (so presumably a new make or very close to it)
3. It proudly boasted that it was "Less than 30 days old" (0 is less than 30, right?)

..and so, despite the fact that it's effectively a Heaven Hill-distilled Bourbon new make, and surely a joke more than a serious product (designed to look, feel and taste like "moonshine"), it was deemed interesting enough to be added to the #101drams list.


Georgia Moon spirit (40% ABV, "less than 30 days old", Kentucky, USA, £3.61 for a sample)
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Colour: Clear as water.

Nose: Spirity, doughy (as in bread-like), with some slightly pleasing corn notes and some far less pleasing detergent notes.

Palate: Smooth enough (though some burn at the back of the throat presents after a while), oats, Kelloggs Nutri-Grain, and an off-putting chemical taste I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Finish: Chemicals, stale bread, corn flakes. Not too long (thankfully).

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 77/100. Unsurprisingly - not very good.

Cheers,

Martin.

Annandale Distillery - A Spirit reborn

One the same weekend I attended Malt Masters HK, TimeforWhisky was also invited to a presentation of the Annandale Distillery project, organised by Eddie Nara, Co-founder and Chairman of Malt and Grain Whisk(e)y Society Hong Kong. Martin sure picked a busy (whisky) weekend to be away!

The presentation was led by Professor David Thomson, Founder and chairman of the Annandale distillery project. David’s lovely wife, Teresa Church who has worked closely with him in each step of the project greeted all guests and appeared genuinely interested in learning about the backgrounds of all attendees. The event was the first time Annandale’s new make ‘Rascally Liquor’ had been launched in Hong Kong.

David’s whisky passion developed and grew over time as his wife gifted him with bottles of whiskies for birthday and Christmas celebrations. He read about Annandale in the book ‘Scotch Missed’ by Brian Townsend and went on to purchase, renovate, and re-build the Annandale brand. Hailing from marketing, market research and brand development background, David and Teresa purchased the building in 2007, commenced restoration in 2011 and started production in late 2011. Conveniently located on the England-Scotland border, Annandale was one of the oldest legal distilleries in Scotland and was previously owned by 3 families, one of which was John Walker and Sons (1895-1918).

David took the group on a photo journey of the grounds and production process, and detailed the creation of the branding of the ‘Rascally Liquor New Make’ (63.5%) which comes in both peated and unpeated varieties. The peated new make aims to be smoky and complex and the spirit is currently being matured in second fill bourbon and sherry casks. The unpeated new make aims to be fiery and fruity, and uses different yeast to what is used in the peated process. Each will be sold as new makes to give consumers a taste of what is to come [Martin: and to no doubt provide some income until such time the distillery starts offering "whisky"].

 

The names and branding of each single malt (which will be ready for purchase and consumption in 3 years time) reflect both the rich maritime history of Annandale, as well as prominent local individuals including King Robert Bruce, the 7th Earl of Annandale who was also a warrior and liberator of Scotland; and Robert Burns, Poet, song writer and Baird of Scotland (and excise man of Annandale). The Man O’Swords (peated single malt) and the Man O’Words (unpeated single malt) will be sold at 46% alcohol by volume.

Despite not typically sharing Martin's enthusiasm for new make, I found myself enjoying these - especially the peated version. It will be interesting to see how these turn out as "whiskies" when they are released as such in 3 years time!

- Steph

Tasted #149 - #152: Hakushu 18, New Make, "smoky" component and Chita New Make

As mentioned the other day, our visit to the Suntory Hakushu distillery last month uncovered an amazing find in the form of the distillery bar, with some seriously cheap whiskies for tasting (see the article or photo below for examples), many of which aren't available to purchase, or likely taste anywhere else in the world (except perhaps the Yamazaki distillery).

Of course, being TimeforWhisky.com, we weren't going to taste all those whiskies and not write about them, were we? No, no we weren't....so here are the Hakushu and Chita whiskies (and spirits) we tasted:

Hakushu 18 (43% ABV, 18yo, Japan, $250AUD / $2,400HKD)
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Colour: Deep orange copper
Nose: Earthy, hints of pine needles. The slightest hint of smoke.
Palate: Spicy earthiness, moss, some sesame.
Finish: Long, smooth and enjoyable. Moss, oak, and sesame crackers.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100.

Hakushu new make spirit (70% ABV, unaged, Japan, not available for purchase)
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Colour: Deep, dark copper...ha no, I kid. Clear as water, obviously.
Nose: Grassy earthiness, with some kitchen cleaning products (but in a good way...?)
Palate: Earthy bubblegum.
Finish: Hot, as expected, and medium length. The alcohol esters are there, but they don't ruin the finish.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. As far as new makes go, not a bad one. And quite different to the usual banana / strong bubble gum notes you get on a lot of others.

"Smoky" component malt for Hakushu 12 (50% ABV, 12yo, Japan, not available for purchase)

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Colour: Pale straw
Nose: Campfire smokiness, obvious peat, with an earthy undertone.
Palate: Fresh woodfired bread, shortbread biscuits, and a lot of peat smoke.
Finish: Medium and peaty to the end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.


Chita New Make Grain Distillate (58% ABV, unaged, Japan, not available for purchase)
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Colour: Clear as day
Nose: Windex, spirytus. Not a lot of complexity.
Palate: Surprisingly light - very few discernible qualities. Some bananas, some pineapple. Quite hot.
Finish: Short and plain, with no real stand-out characteristics.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 80/100. Nowhere near as complex or enjoyable as the Hibiki NMS.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #103: Laphroaig new make spirit (#101drams)

As the only dram on my #101drams list that technically isn't a whisky, I wasn't convinced an Islay new make would be easy to find. I'd tried Glenfiddich and Woodford Reserve new make (and Jack Daniels Unaged Rye), but wasn't sure where to go about finding one from Islay.

Luckily Andrew Derbidge (whisky oracle, SMWS Australia Cellarmaster & NSW Director, all round nice guy and now whisky blogger) had a sample of Laphroaig new make he was willing to share. Thanks Andrew!

Laphroaig New Make (67.5% ABV/ unaged / Islay, Scotland / not commercially available)
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Colour: Crystal clear (surprise surprise!)
Nose: Freshly baked bread, tyres, ethanol, ash.
Palate: Rich and oily, and hot, but smooth. Peaty but not overpowering. Boiled lollies. No iodine or sea air notes - they obviously develop with time (time spent aging near the sea, obviously!)
Finish: Long, hot and dry. Smoky - not dissimilar in lingering peat smoke to the 10yo.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100. Surprisingly drinkable.

Cheers,
 - Martin.