You say the distillery is deliberately small.

It is. I didn't want to lose touch with the human aspect of creating... the true flavours of nature and the stories that inspire the gin and whisky.

Why?

As I said, my gin and whisky are based on stories, poems and people. Although the men in 'Echoes from the Land' liked Gin their character had a stronger connection to Whisky.

So you made whisky. What did you want to capture or convey?

The essence of who they were and the landscape they lived in. I've a picture of Stratford from 1910 showing a foggy mainstreet but it wasn't fog, it was smoke from farmers burning bush. So, I needed smoke in the whisky alongside local botanicals such as Kawakawa,

Horopito, Tarata, Rimu... even local bush honey.

That would certainly make the whisky distinctive.

I had the base, organic barley from Christchurch which has a sweet flavour but there needed to be something more. I had used Cabernet / Merlot or Syrah wine staves in The Pioneer & Vintner Gins and I thought sherry and rum would make interesting profiles for the whisky.

Not in the same barrel?

No. Producing a smoky note was more of a challenge. It's  subtle not like the peaty malts such as Arberg or Laphroaig.                I had used a similar technique when I made THE PIONEER. Loaded with local botanicals including bush honey it was made to reflect the pioneers of New Zealand. It is the closest to a whisky our gin gets with rich botanical flavours, hints of wood, citrus and some smoky notes on the nose and palette. Triple distilled along with honey gives it a very smooth finish.

I see the medals on the bottle.

Yes, it won the mature category at The Junipers in 2022 and Dish Magazine's tastiing panel put it in the top 5 gins in NZ.  While the whisky was maturing, I took this out to the men I was interviewing.

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