Inside New Zealand’s Boundary-Pushing Whiskey Revolution

India, South Africa, Australia, and plenty of different international locations have made a reputation amongst adventurous whiskey drinkers looking forward to distinctive flavors from totally different components of the globe. However there’s one nation whose whiskeys are nonetheless nearly unknown, regardless of being residence to dozens of inventive, high-quality distilleries: New Zealand.

Although the nation’s whiskey trade remains to be younger, it’s thriving. Fueled by New Zealand’s agricultural and pure sources, coupled with a tradition of creativity and surprisingly unfastened legal guidelines, distillers are letting their imaginations information them. The whiskeys they’re creating supply drinkers an thrilling, various world of flavors to discover, one which’s rising by the day.

A brand new trade

European colonization introduced whiskey to New Zealand within the nineteenth century. Although some settlers introduced distilling traditions with them, particularly to the South Island, native Prohibition legal guidelines compelled their low-quality whiskey manufacturing underground. For many years, imported spirits dominated. It wasn’t till the Seventies that New Zealand had its first commercially viable distillery, referred to as Willowbank, which produced the Wilson’s model.

Although the Willowbank Distillery closed in 1997, a few of its whiskey stayed in barrel and was ultimately bottled by The New Zealand Whisky Assortment within the mid-2000s. This was across the similar time that a number of new distilleries popped up within the nation, with the specific aim of creating New Zealand whisky a viable world class. 

“We have been basically forging a path for a brand new trade,” says Desiree Reid, founding father of Cardrona Distillery on the South Island, which was in growth for a number of years earlier than starting manufacturing in 2015.

“We wished to place New Zealand on the map as a whisky-producing nation and develop a model for export,” says Matt Johns, a veteran of the scotch trade and founding father of Pokeno on the North Island, which started producing whiskey in 2019. “The home market is essential, however there are solely 4 and a half million folks in New Zealand,” he says — a quantity that’s too small to assist a large trade. 

Different early and notable gamers in New Zealand whisky embrace Thomson Whisky, Waiheke Whisky, and Workshops Whisky, a craft distillery acquired by Scapegrace in 2018, when it was solely a gin producer. These days, there are 16 energetic whiskey distilleries within the nation, and extra in growth, most of them making single malt.

The challenges of a rising class

The expansion of the New Zealand whiskey trade has been energetic, however not with out hiccups. With out trendy distilleries, New Zealand lacked essential infrastructure. “In Scotland, you’ve coppersmiths, bonded warehouses, cooperages, bottle and cork suppliers, the whole lot [at] your fingertips,” says Johns. “In New Zealand, you’ve completely nothing. We’ve got to be very self-sufficient, which is cool but in addition difficult.”

Reid wished to make use of domestically grown barley from the start. New Zealand is an agricultural powerhouse, however nobody was farming the proper strains for whiskey. “There was resistance from seed importers to usher in the varieties we wanted, as a result of value,” she says. However she persevered, and since 2021, Cardrona has been utilizing all South Island–grown barley, which fits into its single malts, in addition to its vodka, gin, and liqueurs.

Regardless of the challenges, New Zealand’s startup trade had a minimum of one distinct benefit: The nation permits residence distilling, so long as the spirits aren’t bought, permitting people to experiment on their very own earlier than making the leap to business manufacturing. 

“You don’t want a license to distill. You possibly can order a nonetheless off Alibaba,” says Tash McGill, a whiskey guide and author. “The barrier to entry could be very low,” and that, she says, results in an enormous selection in how persons are making whiskey.

Distinctive Kiwi flavors

Many distillers cite New Zealand’s extremely various geography and local weather as key components in creating their whiskey’s taste. 

The Northland area of New Zealand’s North Island, the place Pokeno is situated, has a subtropical local weather, with heat temperatures and excessive humidity. These circumstances result in extra interplay between whiskey and barrel, yielding mature flavors — which Johns notes as being distinctly fruity — after only a few years.

The South Island, in the meantime, is way cooler and drier, organising the circumstances for longer growing old, although particular person microclimates matter enormously. Within the Cardrona Valley, for instance, temperatures drop effectively beneath freezing in winter and may get into the 100s in the course of the summer season, with vast diurnal swings as well. 

“We’re doing conventional whisky-making in an excessive surroundings, and letting that surroundings converse by means of the whisky,” says Cardrona Distillery grasp distiller Sarah Elsom.

The water supply is one other factor that impacts how whiskey taste develops in New Zealand. Pokeno makes use of iron- and manganese-rich volcanic spring water, whereas Scapegrace and Cardrona depend on alpine snowmelt from the encompassing mountains and distilling from domestically grown barley. 

“There’s an underlying sweetness that goes by means of New Zealand single malts,” says Johns. “I believe that’s all the way down to the rising circumstances. It’s rather a lot hotter [than Scotland] and the barley is sweeter.”

Some distilleries age their whiskey in New Zealand wine casks, particularly, Pinot Noir. Cardrona has constructed relationships with famend wineries reminiscent of Felton Highway and Mt Issue, giving the distillery entry to high-quality casks which might be all the time freshly emptied. Cask growing old makes an enormous distinction to the whiskey, highlighting the wine’s vibrancy even after years of maturation.

Maybe most fun is using native wooden, within the type of each smoke and casks. Scapegrace and Thomson use malted barley smoked over manuka wooden, a nod to the peat custom of Scotland that’s completely distinctive. Mark Neal, advertising and marketing director at Scapegrace, which opened an enormous new distillery final yr, describes the smoke’s taste as “floral, candy, naturally advanced, and distinct.”

Pokeno, in the meantime, has an in-house cooperage that makes casks out of native wooden, together with totara, which creates flavors that Johns says are “utterly totally different” from oak. “Creamy coconut, lychee, tropical fruits, candy spice — it’s essentially the most New Zealand product we may ever make,” he says.

An thrilling future

With all of the variation in strategy and taste, and provided that the trade is so younger, it’s subsequent to inconceivable to generalize about New Zealand whisky. “And that’s a superb factor,” says Reid, declaring that if Scotland, a a lot smaller nation, can assist a large range of whisky kinds, so can also New Zealand. The nation’s distillers are merely within the nascent levels of forming a cohesive id, one thing that scotch has had centuries to determine. “We’ve got to be prepared and open to issues evolving,” says Elsom.

What whiskey makers broadly agree on is supporting creativity whereas upholding high quality. They reached an essential milestone on this effort in 2021, when Distilled Spirits Aotearoa, a commerce group, printed voluntary pointers for New Zealand whisky and New Zealand single malt whisky. The concept, says McGill, who was instrumental in organizing distillers within the effort, was “to supply readability for each distillers and customers, to guard and outline a premium class for New Zealand whisky going ahead. The utopian dream was [to create] a typical and a benchmark, but in addition permit room for true innovation.”

The rules aren’t official in regulatory phrases, however mark an important step for New Zealand distilleries, particularly those who want to make their mark overseas, the place sticking collectively will help them compete with different world whiskeys. That perspective of collegiality and collaboration pervades New Zealand’s whiskey trade. It’s maybe the one frequent thread that may be recognized at this stage. And it’s essential to each present and future success.

“We’re not sufficiently big to compete on amount,” says Elsom. “We should be on the high finish of the size to be acknowledged internationally. It’s actually essential that we work collectively to construct a status of high quality first, so we’ll be taken significantly.”

For whiskey drinkers, this second provides a uncommon probability to observe the development of not simply particular person distilleries, however a whole trade, from its earliest days. “It’s thrilling,” says Neal. “Who is aware of what is going to occur within the subsequent 5, ten, twenty years? It’ll simply be cool to be a part of that journey.”

Should-try New Zealand whiskies

Cardrona The Falcon

Combining sherry, bourbon, and native Pinot Noir casks, this elegant single malt balances dessert-like sweetness with zesty citrus, spice, and a velvety-lush texture, enriched by bottling at 52% ABV. It’s named for Cardrona’s “mascot,” an endangered karearea that’s usually noticed across the distillery.

Pokeno Origin

A refreshing, at occasions delicate whiskey with notes of vanilla, sea salt, jasmine, and lemon, enjoying softly on the palate at 43% ABV. It’s a strong start line for exploring the remainder of the distillery’s in depth vary.

Scapegrace Anthem

Manuka wooden smoke lends this whiskey an intriguing pungency, floral and thick, which mingles with candy malt and scorching cinnamon on a silky, medium-bodied palate. The distillery’s different core single malt, Vanguard, is unsmoked, making for a pleasant comparability between the 2.