SPIRITS FEATURE
Pacific spirit leader A new spirits brand takes its inspiration from the strength and courage of Polynesian culture, writes Joelle Thomson ARIKI MEANS royalty throughout the Polynesian islands, which is exactly where the inspiration came from for New Zealand spirits brand – Ariki Spirit of the Pacific. The name is a play on words because Ariki Spirit is a gin and vodka brand but also because it pays homage to the courage of the early pioneer explorers in the Pacific Islands.
60 DRINKSBIZ JUNE / JULY 2016
“It’s a fitting name for our gin and vodka because we want to be a leading spirits brand and it also ensures that we’re focused on sticking to that goal,” says Ariki Spirit of the Pacific co-founder and director, Sean Rota, whose parents were born in the Cook Islands. We met to discuss the new brand in downtown Wellington; one of many places that Rota says he strongly relates
to, having been born and raised in the capital city, despite his Auckland base these days. The brand was released immediately after the first bottling of gin and vodka, in late 2014 - literally two days before Christmas. Of its launch, Rota confesses that he and the two other founders began their own journeys into spirits as consumers first and foremost, but he says they founded this brand because they wanted to develop something unique that they could take to the international market. “We don’t see this as a hobby but an opportunity to develop something