Type Gin | Producer Archie Rose Distilling Co. | Region Australia > New South Wales > Sydney | ABV 42% | Volume 700 ml | Price (AUD) ~$80
House notes
Archie Rose Signature Dry is a Sydney gin that reads like a love letter to native Australian botanicals written by someone who is also extremely sensible. Blood lime, river mint, dorrigo pepperleaf, and lemon myrtle sit on top of the standard juniper-coriander-angelica spine, and the effect is long and perfumed without tipping into potpourri. It’s distilled as fourteen separate single-botanical spirits which are then blended, which sounds wanky until you taste it and understand why. Neat, it’s almost peppery. Over ice it opens up into something grown up, herbaceous, and distinctly Australian. If Four Pillars is a Yarra Valley afternoon, Archie Rose is an inner-Sydney garden in February.
What it pairs with
The perfect G&T gin. A big balloon, plenty of ice, a sprig of rosemary, 150 ml of cold Fever-Tree tonic, and you are ninety seconds from the best drink of the week. Also works beautifully in a French 75 and anything where you want the gin to be articulate rather than loud. Pairs with raw oysters and a squeeze of lemon, yellowtail kingfish sashimi with chilli oil, or a whole barramundi with salsa verde. Holds up in a Martini but most people will find Plymouth easier. Not built for Negronis; too many botanicals fighting the Campari.
About the producer
Archie Rose opened in Rosebery in 2014 as the first independent distillery in Sydney in more than 160 years. They now also make whisky, rum, and vodka, all of which have won extremely well-organised international awards.