Waiheke Whisky Distillery

Standing on an 8-acre property in the Onetangi Valley, only 100m from the Waiheke Island coast, Waiheke Whisky’s new distillery and visitor centre opened in 2022, after their initial foundation in 2010 by Mark Izzard and Richard Evatt. Their brewhouse doesn’t only make wort, but is also home to the Waiheke Brewing Company.

The facility is equipped with a mash tun, lauter tun, whirlpool kettle, six fermenters, and two stills that allow for seven days a week operation. Their 3000L
copper wash still has a tadpole design for less reflux and a faster run with a downwards lyne arm to capture more of the peaty flavour in the low wines. Meanwhile, their 2500L copper spirit still has a geodesic design to achieve maximum contact and high internal reflux with an hourglass neck and horizontal lyne arm. Both stills
were made in Speyside and are iterations of the initial versions built in-house.

The island’s subtropical maritime climate isn’t just excellent for spirit maturation but also for its many award-winning vineyards, which supply the used
barrels for their wine finished whiskies. Allowing for extensive experimentation and a wide range of finishing options with the variety of grapes grown and diverse wines produced nearby, sometimes less than a kilometre away. Other barrels used to create their whiskies include virgin American oak barrels, refill bourbon casks, and some Australian sherry casks.

100% New Zealand-grown barley is used for their malt, both peated and unpeated, with 450kg per 2500L wash and typically a 72-hour ferment. The South Island restiad bog peat they use is moss and wetland predominant, and generally woodless, which is more mellow and less smoky than the peat of Islay that contains marine vegetation and sea salt.

Waiheke Whisky is committed to sustainable practices, including shaving and reusing barrels which are re-toasted and charred, using electricity from a 100% renewable energy supplier to fire the brewhouse and stills, and incorporating recycled glass in their bottles.