Archie Rose Distilling Co has commenced production at its new facility in Banksmeadow, Sydney, which it is calling the world’s most innovative whisky and gin distillery.
Located just four kilometres south of the original Rosebery distillery, the new site features a number of custom designed, and world-first production elements to support a significant expansion in the production Archie Rose’s whiskies, gins, vodkas, rums and other spirits.
Founder, Will Edwards, said: “In terms of production scale this new distillery is a significant step towards fulfilling our ambition of showcasing Australia’s incredible ingredients and innovation in distilling globally and giving more people the opportunity to drink quality, local spirits.
“The innovation and flexibility we have therefore built into the new distillery is, as far as we know, unprecedented at this scale, and allows us to absolutely commit to techniques and processes we’ve spent the past six years delving deep into at our Rosebery distillery, including specialty roasted local malts, cold-distilled botanical distillates and individually distilled malt whisky streams.”
The new facility contains several innovative designs features that the distilling says will help it extract more flavour from the malts it uses, in particular moving from a traditional full lauter mash tun setup to a mash filter, one of only a handful in the world used in distilling.
In addition Archie Rose has also installed two new copper pot whisky stills, which both have neck cooling jackets, allowing the production team to adjust the reflux and style of spirit in a way that could typically only be achieved by altering the shape of the still. Each spirit produced can therefore be customised and refined to accentuate the flavour of the malt and suit the nominated cask type and size.
“This new site is capable of creating spirits that can truly challenge the accepted norms of spirit production,” said Master Distiller Dave Withers.
“By looking to the most potent aspects of the distilling past and fusing them with the most inspiring elements of contemporary Australia, we hope to inspire people to broaden their horizons as to what great modern Australian distilling can be.”
He added: “For six years, we have championed the quality and distinct regional character of the raw materials we use, and now we can complement those rare ingredients with a uniquely progressive approach to distilling.
“This distillery is so brimming with flexibility and ground-breaking innovation it is as if we combined a dozen craft distilleries into one.”
The site also features a number of advanced energy efficiency measures, reducing power, gas and water usage per LAL by more than 30 per cent from Archie Rose’s Rosebery site, with all spent grain, botanicals and pot ale being recycled into livestock feed or natural fertiliser.
“When we started designing this distillery, we had the opportunity to look at how we were distilling and what excited us with fresh eyes,” says Edwards. “From our time at Rosebery, we were able to test and pressure check many of the traditional methods of production, and found that in many ways they didn’t make sense or didn’t produce the best result, so we had to move beyond them and, often drawing inspiration from innovative brewers, winemakers, growers and other producers, establish new traditions from which to build upon.”
In line with the desire to educate, share and create more quality Australian spirits across the board, the Botany distillery will also provide contract distilling services to other drinks producers, while the Rosebery site will feature an expanded cellar door, spirits education and events offering.