Nose: Scorched eucalyptus fire wood, a little vanilla, red apples (stewed?), red wine, musty dried peaches or apricots, a dot of menthol. A generous splash of water and a rest in the glass produces more restrained fruity notes but also an unusual and not entirely pleasant herbal quality. Palate: Firey, spicy arrival (chili and black pepper) that resolves into a burnt-wood flavour, but it’s not really smoke and certainly not peat. Over-brewed black tea, bitter chocolate. The texture is good but not quite hefty enough to satisfy. Adding water soothes it a little and produces some sweetness, but the core profile remains. Finish: Medium/short. A lingering taste as of licking a bushfire-charred stump. This whisky, as was noted in the review by @DrRHCMadden, reeks of the smells and tastes of an Australian campfire breakfast. Eucalypt aroma, smoke in your face, wood ash in the eggs and overbrewed sweet billy tea. You can almost hear the magpies caroling. It’s charming and evocative, and about as subtle as being kicked in the nuts. Like almost every Archie Rose whisky I have tasted to date there is no nuance or complexity, despite their almost torturous mashbill, fermentation and distillation regimes. This distillery delights in producing unusual expressions that contain everything including the kitchen sink, presumably in pursuit of complexity and to create a whisky that is as big as humanly possible. Ironically, they usually miss the target and the resulting whisky is brash rather than big and complicated rather than complex. Sometimes (as for example with their Hybrid Rye whisky and the limited edition Six Malt New Make) they hit one over the fence. However those whiskies are the exception rather than the rule, and this Red Gum Smoked expression is definitely not such an exception. I wish they would relax, simplify their process, concentrate on creating nuance and then just let the distillate sit quietly in refill bourbon casks for a few years. You make great whisky by getting good at the basics, not by setting out with the main objective of proving that you are a master of innovation. There is a very small distillery in rural New South Wales called Black Gate. They have a fraction of the staff, budget and hype of Archie Rose, but they produce a smoky single malt that is orders of magnitude superior. Check them out if you get the chance. Tasted from a sample generously shared by @DrRHCMadden, I was very pleased to have the chance to taste this, as it was a limited release and no longer available, but I would not consider buying a bottle, nor recommend it other than as a curiosity. “Average” : 77/100 (2.5 stars)