Rum nerds and geeks rejoice! We are truly living in exciting times in Australia as the rum industry is reinvigorated by the appearance of a few new distilleries that are currently busy producing truly artisanal sugar cane spirits and rums using traditional batch distillation. Archie Rose, a distillery in Alexandria NSW is the latest to be releasing their own Pure Single Rum Sugar Cane Spirit made of freshly pressed and locally produced sugar cane juice.
The appearance of these new distilleries is particularily exciting as it marks a new era in Australia, a country that was built on rum, allowing Australians to return to their roots and experience small batch rums, once again. Expect to read a review on Refined Vices soon after launch.
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Sydney distillery, Archie Rose Distilling Co. known for its hand crafted gin, vodka and whisky, is releasing its first limited release – Virgin Cane Spirit, inspired by French Colonial Agricole Rhums of old.
The brain-child of Archie Rose production manager, Dave Withers, his love of rum and vision for this single batch project was to create a spirit which is the truest reflection of early, unprocessed, unrefined rhum.
{xtypo_quote}For those more familiar with common rum and less accustomed with Agricole, this spirit will come as something of a surprise, but we're very proud to bring back a spirit reflecting the land and its raw, unprocessed produce. - Will Edwards, Archie Rose Founder{/xtypo_quote}
With the quality of the spirit dependent on the quality of the raw ingredient, Dave spent the better part of 12 months finding a grower who could harvest and press the fresh cane juice, as well as inoculate the juice onsite with our selected yeast strains before shipping the already fermenting juice to the distillery.
Using locally grown sugarcane from Condong, NSW, it is cut and pressed into fresh juice within 12 hours. Archie Rose selected yeast strains are added immediately to kick off fermentation and the juice is transported to the distillery, already fermenting, overnight. The fermented wash is then triple distilled in handmade copper pot stills, producing a characterful and rich spirit.
{xtypo_quote}To properly showcase the sugarcane, the cane we use is not burnt as is a common practice in many regions of Australia for the production of sugar and molasses. Burning the cane can negatively impact the flavour and condition of the juice and since our product will have minimal processing we wanted to retain as much of the quality of the fresh cane as possible. - Dave Withers, Archie Rose{/xtypo_quote}
Unfiltered cane juice is verdant and herbaceous, and much like the resulting spirit is known for being grassy and vegetal, with a touch of agricultural funk.
“Some spirits made with sugar cane juice can be quite challenging,” says Withers. “I wanted to create a spirit with character which could be accessible to consumers and be used in a range of cocktails.”
Archie Rose bar staff, have been tinkering with Virgin Cane Spirit for a while now and while the immediate inclination was to whip up a brilliant Daiquiri, they have also focused on drawing out the savoury aspects of the spirit. Try it in a Bloody Mary and the results may well surprise you.
The Virgin Cane Spirit will be available from Friday 18th November and can be purchased from Archie Rose Distilling Co.
Source: Archie Rose
