The Pōkeno Whisky Company

The Pōkeno Whisky Company is driven by the passion of founders Matt and Celine, with the vision of putting New Zealand on the map as a renowned single malt whisky producer. They chose Pōkeno for its warm, often misty valley, which accelerates maturation and flavour development in the cask, and protective volcanic hills, from which they source their spring water, rich in iron and manganese.

Long fermentation and slow distillation create a defining character in their whisky, putting quality over quantity. Using only South Island barley from three family-owned farms, every process from mashing and distilling, to maturation, filling, and bottling is done on-site, and they even have their own cooperage, which is the only one in the country.

At only 7 years old, founded in 2017, they are already New Zealand’s largest whisky distillery and embody the Kiwi spirit of punching above our weight on the global stage that is forged through our unique marriage of culture and climate. Striking out in bold flavour directions as they only could in Aotearoa, they have experimented with world firsts like Mānuka smoked malt and native wood casks, which can only be done here as raw native wood cannot be exported.