21: David Fisher of Sydney’s Archie Rose Distilling Prizes Independence and Balance

Explicit content warning

12/10/24 • 51 min

David Fisher’s love of spirits started with bartending in London and followed a winding path, eventually passing through pandemic-era New York City into sensory analysis and blending back home in Australia. Now the senior spirits blender at award-winning Archie Rose Distilling in Sydney, Fisher has one of the most respected noses in the business.

In this discussion with host Molly Troupe, Fisher shares his thoughts on the importance of confidence to sensory and blending, and knowing your weaknesses as well as your strengths. He also discusses:

stopping to smell the flowers (and everything else) in collecting sense memories
the aromatic purity of gin botanicals versus the integrated matrix of whiskey
the overarching importance of balance
bridging New World flavors and Old World elegance
the effects of Australian temperature swings on barrel aging
backing up sensory data with numbers, and making the connections with production choices making distinctive whiskey with malts smoked by unusual local woods

And more.

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stopping to smell the flowers (and everything else) in collecting sense memories
the aromatic purity of gin botanicals versus the integrated matrix of whiskey
the overarching importance of balance
bridging New World flavors and Old World elegance
the effects of Australian temperature swings on barrel aging
backing up sensory data with numbers, and making the connections with production choices making distinctive whiskey with malts smoked by unusual local woods

And more.

Previous Episode

20: Sherrie Moore Uses Data and Experimentation to Understand and Optimize Whiskey Flavor and Consistency

There aren’t many problems in whiskey that Sherrie Moore hasn’t tackled and solved. Over her 30+ years at Tennessee’s renowned Jack Daniel’s distillery, she’s worked in just about every role imaginable—from chemist and processing manager to barrel warehousing manager and, eventually, director of whiskey production. She’s since directed whiskey production for Nearest Green Distillery, and for the past few years she has expanded her scope to help smaller brands dial in processes, products, and operations.

In this episode, Moore and host Sydney Jones discuss:

Understanding tradition before getting into experimentation
Jack Daniel’s experiments to reduce the angel’s share
Managing a distillery through periods of overproduction and rebalancing
Understanding the impact of toast versus char
Newer research from ISC Barrels on barrel preparation
Creating greater consistency, not just quality
Understanding the dynamics of barrel warehouses
Evaluating with the eyes to understand flavor
Collecting data on consumer preference through tasting-room experiments

And more.

Next Episode

22: Spirits & Distilling Year in Review Special

Year one of the Spirits & Distilling podcast is in the books, and in this special year-end look back, hosts Sydney Jones and Molly Troupe recount some of their favorite conversations of 2024, discuss the dramatic changes in their own lives, muse on big issues of the past year like the TTB’s adoption of a definition for American Single Malt, and look at the big issues and conversations they’re focusing in on for the next year. Along the way, they discuss: