Crystal clear: Nelson's Dancing Sand gin is inspired by water from Te Waikoropupu Springs in Golden Bay. Photo / Oliver Weber, Nelson Tasman NZ.
Crystal clear: Nelson's Dancing Sand gin is inspired by water from Te Waikoropupu Springs in Golden Bay. Photo / Oliver Weber, Nelson Tasman NZ.
As the temperatures get colder, stay toasty from the inside out with a tasting at one of NZ's craft spirit distilleries, writes Ewan McDonald
Here's a pub quiz question: what's the only Western country where locals can legally distil alcohol for personal use? Aotearoa, since 1996, so it's not surprising some garage hobbyists have turned professional.
Fifteen years ago we had a dozen commercial distilleries; now there are almost 150, about 85 per cent specialising in gin. Most are small, family- or mate-owned, many open their tasting rooms (most by appointment, so check first) and some are BYO – blend your own.
Rather like the Pākehā who brought gin here (tonic and lime warded off scurvy on the voyage, some say), quite a few picked up the knack on their OE, like Jonathan McLean of Kerikeri's Black Collar Distillery. He set up in the Bay of Islands at Christmas 2017 and his Black Collar vodka has won worldwide gold; its rum and gin, bronzes.
Compelling reasons to visit Pūhoi's Organic Distillery: Lonely Planet named it the globe's top boutique distillery; it's solar-powered, and its owners are three Ukrainian family members.
In Takapuna, CarbonSix uses local organic ingredients to create naturally infused vodka and gins. Sessions at its tasting room are legendary. Other user-friendly operations around the region include Waiheke Distilling, The NZ Rum Co and d:STIL Project.
Daniela Suess and Paul Schneider caught the distilling bug when they experimented with turning manuka honey from their Coromandel beehives into mead. They now craft Awildian - voted best classic gin at the 2022 World Gin Awards – in Thames' historic precinct.
Hastings Distillers is a tasting room housed in a 1930s former bookshop. Photo / supplied
Kate Galloway and David Ramonteu were internationally successful winemakers before returning to Hawke's Bay and creating our first certified organic artisan spirits and liqueurs at Hastings Distillers, beautifully presented in their tasting room, housed in a 1930s former bookshop.
National Distillery inside Napier's opulent Art Deco National Tobacco Building aims to educate as much as pour drinks. As at several of these distilleries, visitors can create their own beverage.
In Taranaki, Juno Gin has opened a new cellar-door experience while LWF Distilling offer tours of their rum distillery, set up in an old-time farm utility shed.
The cellar door at Juno gin is a popular spot in Taranaki. Photo / supplied
Wellington's inner-city laneways are home to Mark Halton's Denzien Urban Distillery whose craft gin uses native botanicals and rainwater; also Southward, gin, spirits and whisky artisans, inside Heyday brewery. Brewtown, the Upper Hutt craft beer and food destination, also houses Wild Kiwi, making whisky from Tararua water and West Coast peat, while the Gin Experience at Aurora Distillery allows guests to taste their products and observe the gin-making process.
Ask Sarah and Ben Bonoma how they created our most awarded distillery with zilch knowledge of the industry, the couple say, "We never knew the rules so we didn't know we were breaking them." The inspiration behind Dancing Sand's gins is Te Waikoropupū Springs in Golden Bay, said to be the planet's clearest water. Nearby, family-owned Kiwi Spirit specialises in unique spirits handcrafted from pure homegrown ingredients.
When Patsy Bass came home to the West Coast after a successful business career she crowdfunded the Reefton Distilling Co., raising $1.385 million to buy equipment and employ staff. Flagship is Little Biddy - inspired by Bridget Goodwin, a gin-loving, gold-prospecting 4ft-tall local heroine - blended with West Coast herbs. If gin's not your tipple, try fruit liqueurs, "wild rain" vodka or single-malt whisky.
In a region better known for sauv blancs, Elemental Distillers is a sustainability-promoting Marlborough distillery constructed from three up-cycled shipping containers.
With sustainability in mind, Elemental Distillers in Marlborough is constructed from three up-cycled shipping containers. Photo / supplied
Kaikoura's Mt Fyffe Gin Distillery was born in 2019 when Justine Schroder – midwife, mother, farmer, gin lover – attended a gin-making course and started brainstorming a new venture. For Woolshed gin, Justine forages the family's 260ha sheep farm for botanicals; Hutton's shearwater, a little seabird living in the Seaward Kaikoura ranges, inspired Shearwater gin with high-country botanicals and coastal seaweed.
In 2015 four Canterbury mates decided to split the cost of a still, to put in someone's garage and make the "world's best single malt whisky". The Spirits Workshop in gentrifying Sydenham is now home to Divergence single malt whisky and Curiosity gins.
Three mates - Cody Thyne, Richard Brown and Matt Gunn – built Twizel's Resurrection distillery from the ashes of Gunn's former cheese factory. Operating out of two shipping containers and drawing solar and regular power, they focus on white whisky and gins.
Broken Heart has opened Queenstown's first boutique gin-tasting room, the Gin Garden, serving its spirits and Oktoberfest lager, including the gold-winning London Dry from the 2022 World Gin Awards.
The further south you go, the taller the tales get. Central Otago's Lammermoor Station has been "Distilling Illegally Since 1863", honouring its goldrush, moonshine history. John and Susie Elliot have brought the legend back to life at the ultimate farm distillery; they grow grains, malt, mash, ferment, distil and mature single-malt whisky and gin on-site. If you can't get to the station, the Royal Hotel at Naseby is only too happy to serve you.
In Dunedin, bar owner Michael Wilson and his artisan patissier Julien De Lavoie pooled their knowledge in No.8 Distillery, foraging and creating vegan alcohols: absinthe, walnut wine, berry liqueurs, limoncello and their signature gins. Dunedin Craft Distillers are also worth a shot.
Where better to end than the world's southernmost distillery? The Auld Distillery (not Scottish for aged, it's the family name) has grown grain near Winton since 1883. It's combined with pure water from their spring to craft whisky embodying the grain-to-glass philosophy.
