Whisky on the Six
Archie Rose Six Malt New Make (and some delicious ways to incorporate it into your favourite cocktails).
Many whisky tragics are well aware of Archie Rose’s designs on the Australian whisky market and eagerly anticipate the release of their first whiskies. For those not following along (yet), Archie Rose is located just 5 kilometres south of Sydney’s CBD and is home to some of the most passionate human beings around, one of the best bars in NSW and a distillery already showing up on the radars of many critics and punters alike due to their well-crafted white spirits, including signature and collaboration gins, vodkas and white rye. What keeps writers like me awake at night though is what is yet to come….
As a pre-game warmup the team from Archie Rose has decided to release a ‘preview’ of their upcoming whisky in the form of a limited run bottling (3000 bottles for those keeping score at home) of their ‘Six Malt new make’ which showcases the mash-bill, attention to detail, love of what they do and distilling chops of the Archie Rose production crew.
With their first whisky release anticipated in the next year or so, this spirit gives a great insight in to what we can expect in the future, as the makeup of the spirit is almost identical to that which has and is being used to fill barrels and which will soon emerge as our favourite liquid of all, whisky!
We were fortunate to be invited recently to an evening of sharing, learning and discussion about the Six Malt new make, hosted by the always super friendly Archie Rose crew, Head Distiller David Withers and founder (and man with the vision) Will Edwards. We were given an insight in to how and why the components were chosen and the almost obsessive search the ensued, for a new make profile which would end up becoming the distilleries ‘signature’.
It’s hard to convey in writing how much passion and conviction was on display by the very (justifiably) proud Archie Rose team as they described their journey so far, from the countless hours and hours spent testing, tasting and developing the six(!) malts used to make the spirit in conjunction with local farmers and maltsters from around NSW, to perfecting the mashing, fermenting and distilling of such an unusual combination of malts — a process which took almost two years…
A typical Scottish distillery will use a SINGLE strain of malted barley, Australian distillers typically use 2 to 3, making this particular example, at six varieties, the most unique and complex mash-bill we have tasted to date. As a natural extension of the ethos of Archie Rose (which genuinely appears to be derived from passion and consideration — not marketing or any other cynical contrivance) the majority of the production malts were sourced locally.
The Malt breakdown for the super nerds (guilty!) among us consists of;
Local Pale Malt — a single estate NSW pale malt lending a herbal, floral influence
Local Peated Malt — NSW barley PEATED with NSW peat — as far as we can tell a first (and possibly the last?) such beast, adding a rich earthy smouldering ‘ashiness’
Local Amber Malt — low yield NSW Amber strain, adding a pronounced biscuit ‘structure’ and flavour
Caramel Malt — added to provide a caramel fudge edge
Aromatic Roasted Malt — bringing the digestif characteristics of fig, raisins and amaretto
Local Chocolate Malt — Single field NSW provenance Malt, roasted in small batches yielding a pronounce coffee and chocolate presence
Now to be fair even some of the more seasoned whisky drinkers will baulk at drinking an unaged spirit neat (which is genuinely their loss in this case) so the bar team at Archie Rose have come up with some excellent riffs on classic cocktails to help ease in the cautious or inexperienced while at the same time highlighting the generous, complex and excellently balanced spirit for the more experienced, rusted-on or adventurous among us. All three cocktails were sampled at length (the sacrifices we make for our readers!) and all passed muster with flying colours (but the Boulevardier holds a special place for being an exceptional platform to showcase the spirit).
The New Boulevardier
40ml Six Malt New Make
20ml Campari
20ml Sweet Vermouth
Stir over ice, strain into a coupette, garnish with an orange button.
New Nu, Niew Sour
60ml Six Malt New Make
30ml lemon juice
15ml sugar syrup
15ml egg white
15 ml red wine, floated on top
Shake all ingredients (except the wine) strain over ice, float red wine.
New Old Fashioned
60ml Six Malt New Make
10ml honey water (2:1)
3 dashes walnut bitters
Stir, serve over a large ice cube.
The Archie Rose Six Malt New Make, bottled at 50% ABV in 700ml bottles, presented as a limited release of 3000 bottles in a bespoke presentation box (which has some fascinating texturing and design) is available at the distillery door, via the distillery website and through selected licensed retail partners. Check here for more information or to purchase a bottle :)
Thanks to Archie Rose for the invite and the hospitality!
Photos Courtesy of May Lawrence Photography and supplied
Cheers!
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