From Thor to whisky owner, actor Chris Hemsworth buys stake in Archie Rose

“There’s no better guy” to help the booze brand take its whisky global, says the Sydney distillery’s founder.Chris Hemsworth has landed a major role in what could be the next international blockbuster, but it’s not with Universal Pictures or Disney.The Hollywood actor, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel movies, has joined founder Will Edwards as co-owner of Australian distillery Archie Rose. Hemsworth, who was born in Melbourne and grew up in the outback town of Bulman in the Northern Territory, owns an undisclosed stake in Australia’s most awarded distillery, and will play a central role in pushing the Australian-made spirits brand into global markets, beginning with the United States at the end of the year. Archie Rose co-owners Chris Hemsworth and Will Edwards. Timothy Ashton“I’ve been a fan of Archie Rose for a long time,” Hemsworth said in a statement. “Wherever I am in the world, tasting an Archie Rose whisky immediately transports me right back home, to that feeling of sitting around a campfire in the Australian bush with my mates.” Hemsworth says he’s impressed with Archie Rose’s use of only Australian-grown malts at its Sydney distilleries, which include the original Rosebery site and bar which opened in the inner south in 2015, and the company’s production facility in Banksmeadow. Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.Sign up“They’re a brilliant example of what Australia does best, and I can’t wait to share that with the world.” Chris Hemsworth has an undisclosed stake in Australia’s most awarded distillery.Hemsworth’s investment shows confidence in an Australian spirits market reported to be worth $5.6 billion in 2024, according to International Wines and Spirits Record data. Research firm Mordor Intelligence values the current US spirits market at $172 billion and forecasts it to grow by $17 billion over the next five years. More than one-third of the US spirits market is whisky based. The Avengers star, who is an Old Fashioned drinker and partial to the brand’s rye malt whisky, won’t be involved in making the spirits, which will remain in the hands of Archie Rose master distiller Dave Withers, a two-time winner of distiller of the year in the Spirits Business Awards. “Chris is very comfortable leaving the distilling to the distillers,” said Edwards. Instead, Hemsworth will focus on the creative processes, including product redesign, content strategy and launch plans for the US market. “He’s been very involved in that, more than I thought he would have been,” said Edwards. Archie Rose co-owners Chris Hemsworth and Will Edwards are taking Archie Rose global. Hemsworth has been working behind the scenes with Archie Rose for more than a year, mostly over email and phone, and visiting the Banksmeadow site. “We did our best to keep it under wraps,” said Edwards. “But he’s not the most inconspicuous guy. We had to tell our staff that he was there doing some recce work for a [movie] role.”Afterwards, rather than making a quiet exit, Hemsworth joined the team in the lunchroom. “I assumed he was going to head off, and instead he goes down to level one, which is the lunchroom. He makes a coffee and then just chills out there with the whole team,” said Edwards. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god’ – we’re trying to keep this low key, and he’s just hanging out.”Edwards wasn’t looking for a business partner when he met Hemsworth through a mutual friend a few years ago, but says the fit made sense and the timing was right. “If you had asked me before this happened to pick someone to partner with, Chris Hemsworth would have been No.1 on the list,” he said. Archie Rose’s latest release: Triple Smoked Single Malt Whiskey. “He’s the best possible partner. He’s an Australian icon and he’s a really good bloke. There’s no kind of pretence, he’s willing to get his hands dirty and get involved in stuff.”The new appointment marks a major leap for Archie Rose. When Edwards lodged the development application for the original Rosebery site, it became the first independent distillery to open in the City of Sydney in more than 160 years. Joined by several other craft spirit brands, including Four Pillars (fully owned by Lion, a subsidiary of Japanese brewing giant Kirin), it helped launch an Australian distillery revival in the mid-2010s. Twelve years on, it’s been awarded more than 400 awards including world’s best rye whisky four times in the World Whiskies Awards and world’s best contemporary gin in the World Gin Awards. Its spirits portfolio includes whisky, vodka and rum, although it’s best known locally for gin. Distillery manager Tim Hosken in the Archie Rose barrel room in Banksmeadow.Steven Siewert“We actually started distilling whisky before we started distilling gin. The first whiskies were laid down in December 2014, and then the first gins were made in January 2015. I would say that whisky is actually our lead category now.” Archie Rose will launch three new whiskies at the end of the year. They’ll have new packaging, an updated logo and more efficient and sustainable design, reflecting the company’s B Corp certification which came through this month. “I’d probably say the whisky packaging now skews a little bit more masculine, as you would expect with Chris, and it’s also a better representation of Australia,” Edwards says. “So when you put the product in front of people, particularly non-Australians, it straight away feels how an Australian whisky should feel.”Archie Rose’s Banksmeadow facility can produce more than 2.5 million litres of whisky a year.The US will be the primary international market, alongside New Zealand and select markets in Asia, with the United Kingdom and Europe to follow in 2027. “There’ll be an initial focus on whisky, but we’re very open to bringing our white spirits portfolio in future,” Edwards says.Exporting any kind of spirit can be tricky, and involves navigating complex trade agreements, import tariffs and distribution deals, but Edwards says one of the biggest hurdles for Australian producers is supply. With this in mind, Edwards established Australia’s largest distillery in Banksmeadow in 2020, with the capability to produce more than 2.5 million litres of whisky a year. “We have over 45,000 casks in the bond store under maturation already, and a really well-planned production schedule.”Will Edwards founded Archie Rose in 2014. Another obstacle is awareness, and that’s where Hemsworth comes in. With a global fan base, Edwards is hoping that Hemsworth might be exactly what Archie Rose needs to cut through overseas. “He’s obviously the biggest Australian there is, and in terms of being able to tell the story to consumers, there’s no better guy.” There is a risk to that strategy: that Archie Rose is seen as just another celebrity-owned spirit with a famous face on the label, like Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation American Gin or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Teremana Tequila.“I think [we can avoid that] because we have existed for a long time prior, and we try to make whisky that’s authentically Australian and really tastes like the place it’s from – provided we get to tell that story, which is what we’re really trying to do.”Homegrown star Chris Hemsworth has a global fan base. Getty ImagesThe Australian provenance of the whisky is central to how Edwards and Hemsworth intend to market Archie Rose overseas and justify its cost, which will sit above many high-volume Scotch blends. “How it differentiates itself is through the raw materials that go into the whisky – our Australian barley, rye and wheat is second to none – and then the maturation climate,” says Edwards. Australian whisky isn’t governed by the same restrictive legislations as Scotch, for instance, leaving distillers more room to innovate. An example of this is Archie Rose’s Triple Smoked Single Malt Whisky, which uses native stringybark timber to smoke the malts giving the spirit a distinctly Australian smoke character, reminiscent of campfires and wood smoke. Archie Rose’s Smoked Cask Series. The hope, ultimately, is that this opens the door not just for Archie Rose, but for Australian whiskies, says Edwards. “I hope, but I’m pretty confident, that inevitably what’s going to happen is that the awareness of the category is going to grow and consumers will be curious and they will try all different types of Australian whisky.“The bigger we can grow the category, the better for everyone.”From our partners