When Archie Rose first opened their doors in 2015, they were the first independent distillery to do so in Sydney in over 160 years. The brand has now announced that they are set to open a second distillery and bond store mid next year.
Located 4km south from the present site in Rosebury, the new location in Botany will be designed to not only increase their distilling capability but also allow the company to focus more intently on sustainable distilling practices.
Some of the energy efficient brewing and distilling technology planned, will be a first for an Australian distillery. Constructed from the ground up, the new site will be specifically engineered and custom built to accommodate Archie Rose’s unique production processes; including its six-malt single malt mash bill, extensive use of specialty roasted malts, malted rye and individually distilled gin botanicals.
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The new bond store will allow the company to unite its existing whisky stock into a centralised location, so as to better monitor maturation. The area will additionally increase Gin, Whisky and vodka production capacity.
Archie Rose founder, Will Edwards, told the Spirits Business, “This new site is a massive step for us. Not only will it allow us to bring all our casks, packaging, raw materials and team back under one roof, but it provides us with the opportunity to re-conceive and design every aspect of the distillery specifically to suit our unique production methods.
“The Botany expansion also allows us to consider sustainability in not just our processes (as we have done since day one) but also our production equipment, to use less water, power and gas, and capture and reuse as much energy as possible throughout the distilling process.”
A new role for the Rosebury distillery
Once completed, the original Rosebery distillery will then be dedicated exclusively to R&D projects and limited release trials that explore the fringes of spirits production. The Archie Rose Bar at that location will continue to operate, along with the brands ‘Blend Your Own Gin’ and ‘Blend Your Own Whisky’ experiences.
“It’s a pretty huge pilot distillery for an R&D program,” Edwards explained, “but it’s reflective of how important innovation is to us as distillers, and we’re incredibly excited to share the good, not so good and just plain weird things that will no doubt come out of that site.”
Archie Rose will use a $500,000 Coles Nurture Fund, interest-free loan to help with the move.
“Although growing exponentially and producing absolutely world-class spirit, the Australian distilling industry is very much at its infancy, and we’re really excited to be leading the way in terms of energy efficient spirits production at scale,” Edwards told The Shout.
“We are investing in best practice and world-class distilling equipment at our new site, both to continually improve the quality of spirits as well as reduce our water, gas and power consumption per litre. Some of this new production equipment will be the first of its kind in the Australian distilling industry and is currently only utilised by a handful of distilleries globally, and reaffirms our commitment to innovation and progression while also minimising our environmental footprint.”
