SPIRITS NEWS
Gin collab from QT Hotels and Four Pillars QT HOTELS and Australian craft distillery Four Pillars have teamed up to create Gilded Chaos Gin – offering consumers signature gin cocktails at the hotel’s Australasian sites and the chance to purchase a full-size bottle for at-home enjoyment. The Gilded Elixir, created by Arish Khadka, Rooftop at QT Bar Manager, QT Auckland is a twist on the classic Martinez, a cocktail popular during the Gilded Age. The Gilded Elixir incorporates maraschino
liqueur and verjus and is served with a caramelised lemon wheel that the drinker can dissolve into the liquid for a touch of extra citrus and sweetness. QT bars and restaurants across New Zealand and Australia are now serving the limited-edition Gilded Chaos Gin and signature cocktails and it is also available to purchase by the bottle from QT at Home in Auckland and Wellington for RRP $110 (700ml). qtathome.com
A forest tale from Glenmorangie GLENMORANGIE HAS released its first whisky to be crafted from barley kilned with woodland botanicals: Glenmorangie A Tale of the Forest. Now available in New Zealand, the new expression was inspired by the woodlands near the home of Glenmorangie’s head distiller, Dr Bill Lumsden. After experimenting with kilning his barley using different botanicals, he selected juniper berries, birch bark and heather flowers, married with a little peat. He then aged it in bourbon casks, including many refill casks. The resulting spirit is described as having aromas of pine needles and juniper, laced with wisps of smoke. The taste is zesty and peppery with peppermint, menthol, eucalyptus, pine, wood sap, angelica, bitter orange and a hint of aromatic wood smoke. The long finish has tangy citrus notes of orange and lemon, with oak. Illustrator Pomme Chan created the packaging design based on walks in forests near her own home in northern Thailand. Glenmorangie Tale of the Forest – 46% ABV, 700ml RRP $189.99 Moët Hennessy NZ
Reefton Distilling Co. to supply whisky to Scotland REEFTON DISTILLING Co. has become the first New Zealand distillery to sell whisky to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) in Scotland. The West Coast distillery has signed a multi-year contract with the SMWS, a membership organisation based in Edinburgh, which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 150 82 DRINKSBIZ AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2023
Patsy Bass and Kai Ivalo, Scotch Malt Whisky Society Spirits Director
malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and throughout the world, bottles them and retails directly to around 40,000 members globally. Reefton Distilling Co. is the first New Zealand distillery to be selected for inclusion in this exclusive whisky society’s offering. The agreement will see the SMWS purchase minimum agreed volumes of Reefton Distilling Co.’s New-Make
Spirit (NMS) each year, for an initial three-year term. Reefton Distilling Co. Chief Executive Patsy Bass says that being selected as the first New Zealand distillery to supply New-Make Spirit to the SMWS is a huge honour and achievement. “It highlights the quality of the New-Make Spirit we are crafting and exporting to the world, and we look forward to developing a long-term, successful relationship with the society and its members around the world.” The NMS will be matured in SMWS casks at its bonded warehouses in Scotland, with some also matured in Reefton, allowing a comparison of how the spirit develops at each location. Each cask will yield a limited number of bottles, which will be released by the SMWS under its own label. Each of these limited releases will be available exclusively to their members.