NEW ZEALAND
A labour of love Russel Scott has a renowned history in New Zealand’s hospitality industry, the Hospitality Hall of Famer responsible for some of Wellington’s iconic locales for close to five decades now. His family’s latest venture is both a wide-ranging shared experience and a very special and personal commitment.
The Whistling Sisters Beer Company’s new premises at The Fermentery is in many ways typical of a Scott Family business. Known as owners of the Leuven Bar, The Featherston City Tavern, Avida Bar, and for previously creating and owning Ombra restaurant, the group is well known for the exacting standards and innovative approach to the business of hospitality. The family’s latest venture at 100 Taranaki Street is no different. The popular brewery and restaurant attracts the crowds and the kitchens, bar and function room hum with energy and efficiency. However, for Russel and Elwyn Scott the new business is also a family story, the heart of which rests within its very name.
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Connection ISSUE ONE | 2019
The Whistling Sisters is dedicated to their daughter, Karen, who was lost to breast cancer in 2015. The Karen Louisa Foundation was set up to honour her memory and to help fund research into breast cancer. The Whistling Sisters is one way this foundation is supported and sustained, and their youngest daughter Lisa manages both the foundation and marketing for the Sisters brand. The Whistling Sisters Beer and associated Fermentery is a fitting culmination of Russel Scott’s efforts and experience. The rebuild of the existing building was a big task, with considerable earthquake strengthening undertaken before a full fit-