Melbourne CBD cocktail bar Apollo Inn has joined forces with The Gospel to bring an exclusive single-cask release to whiskey fanatics. The Gospel Projects High Wheat is defined as a high wheat rye whiskey, born from a collaboration between The Gospel Co-Founder Ben Bowles and Apollo Inn Bar Manager Cameron Parish.
Coming from the same team behind the city’s much-celebrated restaurant Gimlet, the new cocktail bar worked with the Melbourne-based distillery to select a single cask release exclusively for the bar. The new release was previewed at Gimlet on Tuesday 8 August, ahead of its official release today.
Distilled from a mash bill of 63 per cent mallee rye, 31 per cent malted wheat and six per cent malted barley, The Gospel Projects High Wheat is described as “highly aromatic, with notes of toffee apple, toasted chestnut, salted caramel, Mirabelle plum and cherry wood.”
Ben spoke about the opportunity to collaborate with the team behind one of Melbourne’s most exciting recent venue openings. “Gimlet has quickly become one of those places that feels like it’s always been a part of Melbourne’s fabric, yet is impressively only a few years young. When we were approached by Cam and the team to celebrate the opening of their new venue Apollo Inn, we wanted to honour their renowned level of hospitality by creating an equally refined whiskey.”
“This is the first time we have collaborated with a venue and we feel this partnership is a special ode to Melbourne. The last Wheated Rye we released was one of our highest rated whiskeys – it was featured in the Top 10 Releases of 2021 by Oz Whiskey Review and scored 94 points by Ev Liong.”
To celebrate the the new High Wheat release, Cameron has developed two cocktails to be showcased at Apollo Inn. The first, a Cablegram, puts a unique spin on the classic whiskey highball, Rye & Dry. Adding a twist of toasted soba complements the toastiness of the whiskey, with the addition of black lime and ginger wine to cut through the depth.
The second cocktail, Manhattan Number 6, uses a dry vermouth and Cocchi Americano to highlight the richness of the whiskey.
“My initial brief to The Gospel was to find something similar to what I enjoy – an American rye whiskey with a heavy charred cask – wanting to bring an added richness to the dry style typical of rye whiskey,” explained Cameron.
“All eight of the cask samples Ben presented were amazing. When he talked me through the mash bill of the High Wheat and the double-barrel maturation, inclusive of a heavy toast barrel, it matched perfectly to what I was looking for – there’s a sweetness, richness and toastiness to the whiskey.”
The Gospel Projects High Wheat is available now exclusively over the bar at Apollo Inn, on The Gospel’s website and from Meatsmith and Morning Market merchants.
