New from The Gospel
Australia's first bottled‑in‑bond rye whiskey
One distillery. One distiller. One distilling season. Bottled at exactly 50% after more than four years in oak.
The bonded standard
One distillery. One distiller. One season.
The Gospel built its name bringing American straight rye rules to Australia. Bonded Rye goes further, made to the strictest standard in whiskey and captured from a single moment in time.
Why bonded matters
A guarantee first written in 1897
Bottled-in-bond began as American consumer protection, at a time when plenty of what was sold as whiskey had never seen a barrel. To carry the name, a spirit had to come from one distillery and one season, rest at least four years in bond and go into the bottle at 100 proof.
The Gospel has taken those rules and applied them in Brunswick. 100% Australian unmalted rye, double distilled in the summer of 2021/22, then matured in heavily toasted new American oak until it was ready. Nothing blended in from another season, nothing rushed. It is the most deliberate whiskey the distillery has put in a bottle.
The presentation
Printed in Prussian blue
The gift box reproduces the botanical cyanotypes of the 1840s, one of photography's earliest processes. Specimens were laid on light-sensitive paper and left in the sun, leaving pale silhouettes on a field of deep blue, each one captioned by hand with its Latin name.
It is a fitting nod to a whiskey that asks for patience, and it means Bonded Rye arrives ready to give. An easy pick for the rye lover in your life.
Tasting notes
Big, peppery and generous in the glass
Four years in Melbourne's swinging climate drive the spirit deep into the oak, building structure without losing the grain's signature spice.
Nose
Toffee apple, caraway, dark rye bread, fennel seed and creamy grain
Palate
Cracked pepper, chai spice, vanilla and sweet pastry richness
Finish
Full-bodied, with a long and lingering pepper finish
Best enjoyed neat, or over a single large cube.
The distillery
Australia's only dedicated rye distillery
The Gospel was founded in Melbourne by Ben Bowles and Andrew Fitzgerald with a single idea: make rye, and make it properly. Production is led by Ian Thorn, the first and only accredited Master Distiller in Australia.
Every bottle starts on one farm in the Murray Mallee, on the border of Victoria and South Australia. The dry, harsh climate there yields small, dense, intensely flavoured rye, which is then double distilled in Brunswick and laid down in heavily toasted, single-forest American oak.
IWSC Top 50 Spirit Producers 2025
The only Australian whiskey distillery on the list.The core range
Three ways into Australian rye
The signature solera, the straight rye where it all began, and the bonded release that raises the bar again.
New · 50%
Bonded Rye
One season, one distiller, one distillery. Toffee apple, caraway and a long pepper finish, in a cyanotype gift box.
The benchmark · 45%
Straight Rye
The first Australian whiskey made to American straight rye rules. Dark rye bread, clove and cracked pepper, built for a Manhattan.
The signature · 42.5%
Solera Rye
Rye drawn through a five-tier solera with Australian red wine barrels. Caramel, stewed plum and bright spice.