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.

The Scotch Whisky Experience & Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection (Edinburgh, Scotland)

For our first post of 2014....let's step back 5 years..

On the same 2009 trip as most of these photos were taken, I was also able to visit the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh, and the incredibly impressive Diageo Claive Vidiz collection.

The Scotch Whisky Experience is a tourist attraction aimed at broadening the public's knowledge of whisky, the distilling and ageing process, how to taste whisky, and how to enjoy whisky. It's an impressive facility into which the UK has pumped millions of pounds.

While not aimed at whisky experts, it's an enjoyable experience and includes more than you'd get from your average distillery tour - including being "inside" a mashtun, a sensory room (well executed), and a great shop. Good for young and old.

..but the real highlight for me came at the end - in the form of the Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection. Long story short - Claive was a whisky collector who'd amassed a 3,300+ bottle collection over 35 years, then sold it in its entirety to Diageo. Diageo then loaned it to the Scotch Whisky Experience, and here we are. If it's old, rare, unique, it's probably in here.

Then of course there was the tasting bar at the end, where I enjoyed my first Glenmorangie Signet. Wouldn't we like to see some of these prices in Australian bars!? $5.80 for The Glenlivet 15yo, $16 for a Glenfarclas 30yo!

According to their website, the collection still seems to be available for viewing. I can highly recommend the whole experience - even if you know everything about distilling and just want to check out the collection and the bar at the end!

Cheers,
 - Martin.

Distillery Tour #1: New World Whisky Distillery | Purveyors of Starward (Victoria, Australia)

In what I hope becomes a more prominent category on this blog (especially after a planned trip to Scotland next year), here comes TimeforWhisky.com's first distillery tour write-up...

Those who have been reading this blog for a while now might be familiar with the New World Whisky Distillery. Back in March I sat down for a coffee with CEO David Vitale and a week or so later posted my tasting notes on their Starward Australian Single Malt Whisky. In short: a very impressive sub-3yr old whisky distilled and aged in an old maintenance hangar at Essendon Airport, and every part a "new world" whisky.

 

David made the offer then for me to tour the distillery any time I was in Melbourne. Despite being in Melbourne almost monthly since, it wasn't until a few weeks ago I actually had time to drop in for a visit. A very last minute phone call was made and David kindly said he'd be happy to show me around the next day.

After a safety introduction and donning of the obligatory hi-vis vest, the tour was underway. A very personal tour I might add, as it was just David, Ian (Distillery Production Manager) and myself. The setup reminded me of some of the Australian breweries I've visited - industrial but very clean and organised. Barrels took up a significant proportion of the (massive) floorspace, with the distillery itself taking a comparatively small corner. There was still plenty of space remaining and given the increasing popularity of Starward, I wouldn't be surprised if they start to fill it up soon.

We started with the tasting malted barley (always good to eat before drinking, right?) which is brought into the distillery already malted. Then onto the mashtun, and the stainless steel washbacks. Ian let me sample the wash, which (at close to 7% ABV) had a sour but smooth taste and reminded me of probably the most unusual beer I've ever tried - the Red Duck Gruiter.

Over to the wash and spirit stills,  where the liquid comes off at around 24% ABV and 71.5% ABV respectively. Cuts from the spirit still are made manually, and (having only toured distilleries in the UK before), I was a little surprised to see the "spirit safe" being completely open (in the UK, customs mandates the use of a spirit safe to secure the new make output). I was even invited to taste the new make right then and there as it came off the still. It's not every day you get to do that! It was surprisingly smooth and robust.

From here it was over to the barrels, most of which are palletised and stored upright to provide better wood extraction and more favourable evaporation. David talked me through the various barrels in use - including the usual ex-sherry (apera) and bourbon casks, as well as a few other varieties. It was pretty clear from the discussion that the guys place a huge emphasis on wood, which isn't surprising given the temperature variation that occurs in the region, and the resulting contact the spirit has with the wood.



David then took me over to the in-distillery "Tiki Bar", where he talked me through their sensory program - something the distillery considers hugely important to ensuring consistency and quality in the final product. Without going into too much detail, the sensory program involves blind tasting from a sample of barrels (at a cut-down 20% ABV), against a reference whisky (Famous Grouse), and noting characteristics, qualities, and whether whiskies are acceptable, unacceptable or "single cask quality". Note: the distillery doesn't currently bottle any single cask releases commercially, but based on what I tried, I hope they do in the future!

 Standing at the bar, David ran me through a sample sensory program, starting with new make and running through an example of single cask whiskies from 50L, 100L and 200L casks.


New make: Pears and freshly-cut grass on the nose. Pears with as slight nuttiness on the palate (no bubblegum or bananas here!). Medium-length, nutty finish. Smooth throughout.

50L cask sample: Rich, creamy with a sherry backbone. This tasted WAY beyond its years, and had the most amazing, rich sherried nose. I want a bottle from this exact cask! This was a seriously enjoyable and impressive whisky.

100L cask sample: Lighter than the 50L cask sample, with a fresh, citrus palate and a smooth, medium-length finish.

200L cask sample: Seemed younger and "hotter" than the previous samples - long finish though, and with similar characteristics to 100L in terms of palate.

After the tasting it was time to let David get home, and time for me to catch my flight back to Sydney. I hope David and the team consider running the occasional tour every now and then (perhaps similar to James Squire Brewery at Camperdown, who open once or twice a year for tours) as it was interesting, enjoyable and not something that's usually very accessible for those living in major cities in Australia.

A huge thanks to David and Ian for giving up their time, answering my many questions and showing me their setup in minute detail. I said this would be a distillery to watch earlier this year, and I stand by that. This whisky is already excellent and will only get better as time goes on.

Cheers,
Martin.

Distilleries of the United Kingdom - Part 3

Part 1 saw visits to Oban & Talisker, Part 2 took in Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet. For part 3 - Glen Moray, Abelour, Dalwhinnie, Glenfarclas and Jameson.

Enjoy!

Cheers, 

 - Martin.

Distilleries of the United Kingdom - Part 2

Following on from Part 1 (Oban & Talisker), I give you Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet:

Cheers,
 - Martin.