Archie Rose’s Will Edwards on 10 years of maturing Australia’s finest whisky
With a globally recognised name, Archie Rose appears like an anomaly in Australia’s young history of distilleries. Known for its prizewinning gin and vodka, the 10-year-old brand is also making moves in the whisky space
By 
WHEN WILL EDWARDS had the idea of starting his spirits brand, Archie Rose Distilling Co., it was to be in service to his first customer: himself. For Edwards, the gap in the market – or what felt more like a chasm to the spirit-literate community – was that in all of Australia’s major cities, not one had its own distillery. “Some of the closest were out in Bathurst or up on the Central Coast . . . I just didn’t understand why there wasn’t a local distillery in Sydney,” says Edwards, dumbfounded.
In fact, not since the 1850s has Sydney been home to a spirits distillery. So, after taking a sabbatical from his corporate job, Edwards left for New York City, where, at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, he decided he would dedicate himself to this urban-distillery cause. Returning home inspired and looking to bring a version of what he saw to Sydney’s bar scene, Edwards began sketching out Archie Rose. “I modelled a lot of the stuff that we did in the early days off what it was that I wanted or found interesting that didn’t exist. And then I just hoped that there were enough people out there who felt the same way I did.”
His first attempts at distilling involved little oak casks – kept in his room – in which Edwards would mature different ingredients, not unlike a science experiment. “I’d just play around with things . . . I always liked cooking, and that translated into making things like cheese and salami.” Indeed, with his consummate taste, he could’ve pursued a second career in food, but decided to channel his curiosity into spirits.
Since opening the Archie Rose distillery in 2014, in the industrial Sydney suburb of Rosebery (operations have since shifted to Banksmeadow), the brand has been serving up gin and vodka, taking out top honours at globally recognised spirit awards from London to San Francisco. All the while, Edwards has casks of single malt and rye malt whisky maturing in the background; their Rye Malt Whisky is a four-time winner of the World’s Best Whisky, and was so popular it sold out online within the hour.
Yet it’s Archie Rose’s Single Malt Whisky that best encapsulates the distillery’s mission to make distinctly Australian spirits that speak to the local environment and home-grown ingredients. “Australian whisky, as a category, is pretty diverse,” says Edwards. “We’ve really focused on sustainably sourced malts and ensuring that the character of the rye that we’re using comes through in the spirit.”
Working with Archie Rose head distiller Dave Withers, Edwards has been focusing on “recreating what we feel is an authentically Australian whisky”. For instance, the existence of a set of fortified wine barrels made in the ’30s from native eucalyptus timber remained an industry legend until Withers snapped them up. Using these barrels to store amber, chocolate, dark crystal and light crystal malts sourced from around NSW and other parts of Eastern Australia, the brand’s Heritage Red Gum Cask Single Malt Whisky was born. Incredibly complex on the nose, bursts of dark fruit, spiced oak and nuts are rounded out by a chocolatey, honeyish finish.
“We’re in a good place,” Edwards says as more of his whisky casks come into maturation. “We finally have sufficient mature stock to supply outside of Australia. And so we are now on the cusp of a phase of growth that is really in our hands.” Storing away these whiskies certainly measures the business in decades. And in terms of where Edwards looks for more innovations in the interlude, well, he just has to ask his first customer.
This story appears in the December/January 2024-25 ‘Summer of Tennis’ special issue of Esquire Australia, on sale now. Find out where to buy the issue here.
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