The New Zealand Whisky Company has signed a deal with Speight's to supply the fledgling distiller with half a million litres of "wash", the basic ingredient for whisky distillation.
Under the name The NZ Whisky Collection, the company is this week starting crowdfunding to raise $2 million though PledgeMe, to fund the opening of a new distillery and production expansion.
The NZ Whisky Collection general manager Grant Finn said Speight's "wash" was the base for all single malt whisky.
"Wash is a rich, sweet, flat beer without any hops added for bitterness," he said in a statement yesterday.
He said Speight's would produce the 500,000 litres of wash the company needs annually, at a consistent high quality.