Archie Rose Distilling Co

A MALTED WHISKY THAT IS 100 PER CENT SYDNEY

Archie Rose Distilling Co. has become Sydney’s local spirits champion. Since its beginnings in 2014 in a distillery set up in Rosebery, five kilometres from the city, Archie Rose has given us world-class gins, rums, vodkas and spirits experiences as well as sellout limited editions and one-off collaborations worth looking out for. It can now proudly claim to be Australia’s most highly awarded distillery.

This year is particularly exciting for the distillery. After five years in production, Archie Rose is releasing its very first whiskies. The first release in June was 1,148 bottles of the extremely limited-edition Archie Rose Chocolate Rye Malt Whisky, the only one of its kind in Australia under the Archie Rose Concepts label, reserved for the rarest and most interesting spirits. Selling out in under two hours it was made with chocolate rye, rye malt and barley malt yielding flavours of caraway, mint, shortbread, violets, hot chocolate and fruit jams. The creation of this first special release whisky led Archie Rose’s earliest explorations into heavily roasted malts, an important step in its journey towards embracing the more challenging, lower yielding, but far more flavourful world of roasted malts, and showcasing one of the key insights into how its Rye Malt Whisky came to be.

This first core range Rye Malt Whisky finally launched August 1, 2019, followed by additional staggered releases rolling out from September 1 through until the end of the year with the first three batches marked with a unique 1st, 2nd, 3rd batch mark and individually numbered. The ‘1st Batch’ Archie Rose website allocation sold out in under 30 minutes with the ‘2nd Batch’ available just in time for Father’s Day on September 1 followed by ‘3rd Batch’ release later in the year.

Work-in-progress cask samples have already been awarded Best Australian Whisky at the coveted IWSC Awards in London 2018 and Best Australian Rye Whisky at the consumervoted 2019 Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards in California.

This whisky uses rare malted rye and the finest malted barley from progressive malt houses, paired with virgin American oak casks air-dried for 36-months. It showcases Archie Rose’s commitment to malt and their approach to working with rye, a more complicated malt to process than barley. The whisky is then left to mature in the maritime air of coastal Sydney. The result is layered and aromatic with notes of spiced custard, ginger, stone fruit and baked apple pie with a fresh herbal finish that lingers on the palate.

“Our vision for whisky has always been to speak of our experience as Australians, utilise the incredible raw materials available to us, and strive for genuine innovation in what is typically an extremely traditional industry” says Archie Rose founder, Will Edwards.

“We’ve spent an enormous amount of time in research and development, looking at how we can create a rich and engaging, complex yet approachable whisky, and we believe we’ve made something really special,” says Edwards.

Get down to Archie Rose and get your malt on, drink it neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail, but make sure you savour the original taste of malt grown and matured for its unique characters in the Australian climate.

BEWARE OF FAKES

WORDS DOMINIC ROSKROW

Whisky enthusiasts seeking out rare quality whisky are being warned to beware, after a surge in the market of fake whisky and forged bottles.

And the industry is stepping up its efforts to beat the forgers by turning to new technology.

The latest weapon in the industry’s armoury could be an artificial ‘tongue’ which can taste subtle differences between whiskies. They have built a tiny taster which can pick up on the subtler distinctions between the same whisky aged in different barrels. It can also tell the difference between whiskies aged for 12, 15 and 18 years.

Engineers say the tongue ‘tasted’ the differences with greater than 99 per cent accuracy.

“We call this an artificial tongue because it acts similarly to a human tongue,” says Alasdair Clark, of the University of Glasgow’s school of engineering. “Like us, it can’t identify the individual chemicals which make coffee taste different to apple juice, but it can easily tell the difference between these complex chemical mixtures. “We’re not the first researchers to make an artificial tongue, but we’re the first to make a single artificial tongue that uses two different types of nanoscale metal ‘tastebuds’, which provides more information about the ‘taste’ of each sample and allows a faster and more accurate response.” with technology, but as the secondary and auction markets have grown, the problem has become more extensive.

And it’s not just collectable whisky that is being targeted. It is claimed that as much as 25 per cent of licensed premises in some parts of Great Britain had counterfeit alcohol for sale, and the problem is global. In China approximately 25 per cent of the imported alcoholic drinks are counterfeits.

“Alcoholic drinks are a popular target for fraud, and which can constitute a real threat for health since illegal productions of alcohol can contain harmful pollutions, for instance methanol”, says professor Tony Bagnall of The University of East Anglia, who is heading a project to perfect a none-intrusive test.

Andy Simpson, of investment consultants Rare 101, says that caution must be exercised. “We do not recommend the purchase of spirits from the turn of the 20th century or earlier periods unless they underwent carbon dating. One of the ways to falsify is filling empty bottles, and sometimes it is so easy that we have a list of spirits which should not be purchased. One of them is Ardbeg Very Young. The purchase of whisky from respected auction houses, directly or online, is the best way to avoid counterfeits because the majority want to protect their reputation and get rid of false bottles from the market.”

It’s not just Scotch either. In America empty bottles from the likes of Van Winkle have been sold on eBay, and earlier this year a man admitted selling counterfeit rare bourbon bottles.

Japanese whisky, with its high values, is an obvious target for fraudsters. In the first six months of 2019 about 2,200 bottles of Hanyu, Karuizawa and Yamazaki sold at auction in the United Kingdom. In comparison, there have been 71,544 bottles of single malt Scotch whisky.

“That’s clearly just three Japanese distilleries compared to over 100 Scotch distilleries,” says Rare 101’s Andy Simpson. “But the average ‘per-bottle’ value for Scotch is £361.65, but for Japanese, it’s £1458.20. We’ve recently seen fake Hanyu and fake Kawasaki (grain).

“We were talking to an auctioneer only recently about some fake Kawasaki bottles. Part of the issue is that closures/capsules can be relatively easy to replicate, so we think the main issue is genuine bottles being refilled and reclosed rather than larger-scale forgery, although that could very easily change. Fortunately, if the consumer does their research, the colour of the liquid has been a big giveaway for existing fakes, so a simple ‘Google’ of a bottle has revealed discrepancies and bottles can be avoided.

“With values being so high for certain bottles, as for Scotch, we only see the issue of fakes getting worse and their proliferation increasing.”

THE REBIRTH OF ROE & CO.

Roe & Co has been established since 2017 and is paying tribute to the iconic George Roe & Sons brand that led Irish Whiskey many years ago.

WORDS KEN GARGETT

In 18th and 19th century Dublin, The Liberties was the epicentre of Ireland’s brewing and distilling industry. The Liberties quarter boasted the world’s largest brewery, Guinness and the world’s largest distillery, George Roe & Sons. The distillery extended over 17 acres on Thomas Street in Dublin and was Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish whiskey until hard times hit forcing its closure in 1926. All that remains on that site today is the distillery’s windmill tower and a pear tree that flowers every season. Across from the windmill and the pear tree is the world famous St. James’s Gate Guinness Brewery. It stands as a reminder of the prominance of George Roe’s distillery in its heyday and was the inspiration behind the new distillery and whisky rebirthed in his honour.

The Liberties district is humming again and at its heart is the reimagined Roe & Co located in the former Guinness Power Station, a grand and iconic 1940s Art Deco-inspired building that powered the brewery up until the 1990s. Opened in June 2019, the working distillery and visitor centre is just a stone’s throw away from where the original distillery stood. It was one of Irish whiskey’s biggest names and it is part of an Irish whiskey renaissance that is seeing one of the world’s first whiskies enjoyed by a new generation.

The contemporary Roe & Co distillery and visitor centre will immerse its guests in an Irish whiskey experience that is interactive and educational. Visitors will learn of the rise and fall and rise again of Irish whiskey and the famous Golden Triangle of streets where the distilleries of The Liberties are located. Lovers of Irish whiskey can enjoy and discuss the characters and nuances of the modern Roe & Co. whiskey in the Flavour Room or sit back and savour on one of the distillery’s signature creations in the Powerhouse Bar. The Roe & Co distillery will produce 14,000 litres of whiskey in every run, with an annual capacity of approximately 500,000 litres.

The modern Roe & Co. whiskey was developed in collaboration with a carefully curated group of Ireland’s top bartenders who, together with Roe & Co. Master Blender Caroline Martin, created a unique blended whiskey with cocktails in mind.

Only the finest stocks of Irish malt and grain whiskies, aged in bourbon casks contribute to the Roe & Co. blend. The signature style represents the very best of the characters that make Irish whiskey distinctive but with exceptional smoothness and a depth of flavour unique to Roe & Co. The harmony of intense fruit of the malt balanced with the mellow creaminess of the grain whiskey, makes Roe & Co. a contemporary and premium Irish whiskey.

SCORPION WHISKY AND OTHER SUCH JOYS

WORDS DOMINIC ROSKROW

Many years ago, on a trip through the centre of Africa, a few friends and I found ourselves at a wake in a village in the jungle in Cameroon – long story. The evening was almost over when they brought out a small bottle of something they called ‘African Hots’. We were never told what it was made from, but I swear I still have the internal scars. The only thing I have ever had to match it was a scorpion whisky from Taiwan (occasionally, mezcal in Mexico has a scorpion instead of a worm but I’ve ducked them so far).

Creating weird drinks from local ingredients, the vast majority of which were never intended for distillation or even consumption, is yet one more of humanity’s foibles. There are plenty of examples with wine, though Lord knows why – baby mouse wine, three penis rice wine (the wedding tackle of a deer, a dog and a seal are fermented together – it must be awful, Parker only gave it 95: I jest, of course, he gave it 98), snake wine and more.

The spirits array is even more exotic. An example - Vietnamese cobra whisky (and termites and geckos). There is even a procedure that lets one ‘vap’ a whisky these days – I have no idea if that is good or bad.

Our grand prize goes to Thai Giant Centipede Whiskey. “Triple distilled”, it is regularly bottled on a farm/distillery in the north-east of the country, though details are sketchy on whether they are bred and harvested there, or they just happen to get caught (one assumes the former as the idea of living where there are enough giant centipedes to enable the creation of an industry such as this simply boggles the mind). They claim that the centipede, which will be at least a foot long, has been “de-toxified” in order to make consumption safe (I don’t care if it has been drowned in d’Yquem – I want no part of it).

Why would anyone want to drink this? Apparently, it is claimed to be an aphrodisiac. One suspects that it is as effective as any other such claim.

You can even buy it on the internet at $15 for 500mls. As yet, no reviews. Perhaps no one survived to describe it.

RECENT HUGE BOURBON WAREHOUSE COLLAPSE

WORDS KEN GARGETT

Previously, in explore WHISKY, we reported on the 2010 collapse of four warehouses at the Glenfiddich Distillery. Seems that tragedies of this nature have made their way across the pond.

Just over a year ago, thousands of bourbon barrels collapsed at the Barton ‘1792’ distillery in Bardstown and around 120,000 gallons ended up in two retention ponds, which were constructed after a previous collapse, killing around 800 fish.

Then came the collapse of a warehouse in Owensboro, Kentucky at O.Z. Tyler Distillery, with some 4,000 barrels toppling during heavy storms.

And now, a fire in a warehouse at Jim Beam has destroyed 45,000 barrels – more than 6 million bottles worth! You can imagine the task facing the forty firefighters as all that alcohol fueled the blaze. Local lightning is believed to be the cause.

Enough to send a bourbon-lover to his favourite bottle, but before anyone declares this the coming of the Four Horsemen, Beam Suntory spokespeople have noted that they have 126 warehouses in Kentucky holding approximately 3.3 million barrels for their brands. The whiskey which was destroyed was young and there should be no interruption to supply.

Glenfiddich managed to release their legendary Snow Phoenix whiskey from the rubble. Perhaps we will see a similar bourbon?

THE HISTORICAL WHISKY REBELLION IN THE USA

WORDS KEN GARGETT

Aussies are proud of our Rum Rebellion which took place in the early 1800s, the only successful armed takeover of government in our history. In America, they have their Boston Tea Party, but historians will be aware that they had their own spirits uprising, the Whiskey Rebellion which kicked off in 1791.

Its genesis was the refusal by farmers from the 11 states, which then formed the United States, to pay taxes on the capacity of alcoholic stills. It ended with a march of 13,000 militiamen. The taxes were worded to be particularly harsh on small farmers. These were also the first taxes in the country levied domestically (import tariffs being the source of government funds till then), which was a shock, especially as local whiskey was extremely popular at the time.

Distilling grain was important to these farmers as distances made this more economical than transporting it to markets. Also, whiskey was often used as currency in those early days. Farmers in Pennsylvania refused to pay, organised a resistance and even tarred and feathered several tax collectors. Governments always take that sort of thing well. Eventually, the rebels set fire to the house of the tax supervisor. One of the rebel leaders was killed in a small battle when he was allegedly lured into the open by a white flag waved by collectors, and then shot. It led to calls to march on Pittsburgh (known to the farmers as ‘Sodom’), praise for the French Revolution and demands for independence from the new United States, and alliances with the French and/or British. Which all came to nought.

George Washington, who had a large distillery of his own at Mount Vernon, was having none of it and called out the militia. All 13,000 of them, a massive force in those days. This was the first and only time a sitting American president has led troops in the field. Faced with such overwhelming odds, the protestors basically disappeared into the forests and mountains. The rebellion was over without a further shot fired, greatly enhancing the President’s reputation. Two rebels were convicted for treason, but later pardoned by Washington.

The tax was also supposed to apply in Kentucky, but there it was largely ignored and no one was inclined to earn the wrath of locals by attempting to collect it.

So, the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania was all a bit of a fizzle. Almost. Thomas Jefferson had always opposed the Whiskey Tax and, when elected President a few years later, he repealed it. It was back to import tariffs. It is believed that this incident hastened the development of political parties in America, possibly not something to which we should raise a glass, these days.

WHISKY

SCIENCE OR ART?

WORDS DOMINIC ROSKROW

Is whisky a science or an art?

It’s a bit of both of course. A science, because a good whisky is a piece of molecular engineering in a glass, its complicated atomic structure contributing flavours and structures through a series of chemical reactions at the fermentation, distillation and maturation stages.

An art because no scientist can control what happens in the cask, as the miracle or black magic of maturation and interaction between wood and spirit ensures that no two casks mature in the same way, even if the casks are from the same source, are filled with the same spirit and at the same time, and are matured for the same spell when side by side in the warehouse. There has always been a trade off between the accountants who want to see a return on a company’s investment at the earliest opportunity, and would undoubtedly embrace science that sped up the whisky making process, and the whisky makers, who argue that you can’t rush nature in its creation of fine malt.

By and large there has been a balance between the two sides. There have been attempts to tip it: casks wrapped in cellophane to reduce the amount of spirit lost to the environment; pressure forcing whisky spirit in the cask to accelerate maturation; even wood and various spices dipped in to grain neutral spirit to make a whisky in days not years. Overall, though, they have all failed. The questions are, though, one, for how long? And two, has the world of whisky just created its first Frankenstein monster?

Glyph is a ‘whiskey’ created overnight in a laboratory in California’s Silicon Valley. Its owners Endless West claim that they have been able to recreate the complex molecular structures of whiskey in hours.

“Whiskeys owe their flavour, aroma, and mouthfeel to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of molecules that develop during distillation and barrel ageing,” says the company, which makes ‘provocative spirits for curious minds’.

“We source these molecules directly from plants and yeasts. By using the same building blocks as conventional distillers, we create fine spirits through a process we’ve developed called note-by-note production. Our process is different, but our commitment to quality rivals the best in the business. Each component is meticulously tested for purity. Glyph is biochemically equivalent to the finest aged whiskies.”

Sounds awful, doesn’t it? But is it?

Billy Abbott, who sources and tastes whiskies for London based online retailer The Whisky Exchange is ambivalent.

“It’s a very good attempt, but it’s not quite there yet,” he says. “The core flavour isn’t right. You can tell this is based on neutral spirit. It’s just a flavoured vodka. However, it’s a lot better than I expected.”

So what does it all mean? If you’re reading this, chances are that words such as ‘science’, ‘technology’ and ‘robot’ are as welcome as a redback in your bedsheets.