Our Harvest Series is picking up speed this year as we continue to showcase the potential and diversity of Australian produce and the people that mindfully work the land to grow it. 6 April, 2022 marks the release of two Harvest products which, while very different, are both linked by the same values and commitment to honouring our country’s best produce.

First, let us introduce Lemon-Scented Gum Gin Harvest 2021. Edition three in our Harvest Vintage series and distilled with very special lemon-scented gum leaves grown by Cyan and Martin Von Gija of Victoria’s Bunyip Hollow, this is an intensely juniper-forward, powerful gin that’s almost audacious in its lemony-ness. If you’re a lover of our Bone Dry Gin, and are looking for a bold G&T, this is the drink for you.

Unlike other botanicals used in the series, Cyan and Martin’s lemon-scented gum leaves were distilled fresh — not dried as most botanicals are — so as to not lose some of the soul and complexity often subdued in the drying process. This made it tricky to transport to the distillery but the results were worth it! As nostalgic and refreshing as a lemonade icy pole, this year’s Harvest Gin offers notes of lime sherbert, apple blossom and pine, underpinned by mango and eucalyptus lollies, with emerald green finger lime, juniper, coriander seed and orris root rounding things out. There’s nothing we enjoy more on a warm afternoon, preferably on a sunny porch overlooking a gum tree or two.

Secondly, we’re proud to release the very first whisky in our Harvest series, Single Paddock Whisky Harvest 2018 pays tribute to the hardiness, character and charisma of a single paddock of heritage rye, dry grown in challenging 2018 drought conditions by the Whytcross family in Barellan, NSW.

Created to reflect the season in which it was grown our master distiller, Dave Withers, has marked this as “a whisky equivalent to natural wine”. The rye, which was harvested, semi-wild fermented and malted three ways, delivers flavours of mandarin, milk chocolate and Anzac biscuit.

Our Harvest series aims to capture Australian produce in its purest form, and as for the lemon-scented gum gin, this whisky is no different. In this particular paddock, the rye is dry grown without irrigation in red ochre earth, under big blue sky and surrounded by eucalypts. It’s an inherently Australian site we looked to capture in the bottle by starting the fermentation process naturally, using wild microbes from the field of rye malt. The fermentation was finished using a saison yeast strain to deliver a big impact on flavour - lending lifted aromatics of wildflowers, mandarin, yuzu and berries to the finished product, characteristics inherent to this particular paddock, year and climate.

Unfiltered and at natural cask strength, this is a whisky for serious spirits lovers of the stuff, and it will reward patience in your glass. Take your time and sit with it, pull it apart. Though we’re sure it’d make a supreme sour, we recommend drinking it neat, allowing its true character to reveal itself to you. As the first in a series of Harvest whiskies, we’re excited to kick off the process of showcasing the potential and diversity of Australian-grown grain and malt at Archie Rose, which year on year, change dramatically.

So there you have it, two brand new Harvest Series releases, both cut from the same cloth, yet wildly different. One to mix with club squash, and one to enjoy neat. Both with plenty to say about their roots. There’s much more to come from this corner of Archie Rose, and we’re thankful to the growers who have worked so hard on raising the very special produce that goes into each and every bottle.

Shop Archie Rose Harvest Series Here.