Archie Rose Six Malt New Make 2

Nose: Clean and rounded malt, fresh-cut grass, banana split, caramel, fresh white bread, a little mint in the background and a very faint roasted coffee bean aroma. It’s a sweet, full nose. Palate: Juicy arrival with tropical fruit, cherries, candied pineapple, ginger in syrup and guava. In the development (which is limited as with all new make spirit) a chocolate flavour emerges together with cereal notes – muesli, wheat flakes and oatmeal. The texture is oily and creamy. Finish: Short. Cereal and fruit melange. A delicious new-make barley spirit, one of the best I’ve tasted and quite honestly I prefer this to the single malt whisky that Archie Rose released in 2021, which was essentially this with two years of intense aging in small casks. That whisky seemed monumentally overdone to me and I wished at the time they had made something with more nuance and restraint. Having now tasted this new make I wish even more that they had been brave enough to release it as a core-range product in its own right. However, the production run for this was very small and it was only available from the distillery door. Unfortunately I missed out on obtaining a bottle and it is now as rare as hen’s teeth, so I was delighted to score a taste at a local liquor shop today. Ignore any comments you may read that imply this new make is just an “unfinished” proto-whisky and useful only in mixed drinks as a substitute for white rum or vodka. It is, in fact, a very enjoyable spirit and if anything it could go toe-to-toe against any good genever and hold its own. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)

Fantastic chocolate taste with a surprising complexity of zests and other flavours. Takes you through a journey of flavours. Very different and very enjoyable