The Spirits Workshop

our story

The Founders: Left to right: Bernard, Antony, Sam & Rod

The Spirits Workshop began in late 2015 when four whisky lovers got together and bought a small still, curious to develop distinctly New Zealand spirits.

Our ambition is to create in our distillery New Zealand’s most celebrated craft spirits. Quality food and beverages are always best enjoyed when there’s a story behind what you’re eating and drinking. We wondered what would it take to deliver our taste of New Zealand to the spirits world?

Yoyo, the original 50 litre pot still was our initial step and for the first three years it produced the first four Curiosity Gins in the range. Yoyo is still in action and in 2019 we acquired a 500 litre still which currently produces all our gin and whisky.

Antony is our Chief Gin Officer, Master Distiller and Managing Director. Stepping out of the corporate world after more than 20 years, he was able to combine his skills in chemistry, engineering and strategy to lead The Spirits Workshop on its journey.
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The whiskY Story

Our intention is to make a uniquely New Zealand, world beating, single malt whisky, hand crafted with the highest quality Canterbury malted barley.

Our Whisky stock is quickly growing and maturing in virgin oak barrels – a process which takes a minimum of 3 long years. The first release of Divergence - French Oak was in October, 2020. It has been very well received with gold medals in 2021, from both the World Spirits Awards and the New Zealand Whisky Awards (The Drammies).

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Always curious and ready to Diverge into something different, Antony & Jack continue to treat whisky lovers to a range of very special single barrel releases. From Tawny Port to Pinot Noir to Sloe Gin, the single barrel expressions to date have been pretty exceptional.

The intention over time is to add New Zealand wood to the process to deliver a truly New Zealand character to our whisky collection.

For true whisky lovers, there is the exciting option of owning and maturing your own mini barrel.

the gin story

Curious for great flavour, we set out to create gins that are truly individual; gin with unique personality that will stand out from the crowd and stand out from the tonic.

Yoyo, our original 50 litre pot still was the first step on our journey and was used to craft the first four gins in the Curiosity range.

In late 2016, we launched our first Curiosity Gin, Recipe #23. A product of passion and determination, it is named after many nights of trials and tastings, eventually landing on the 23rd recipe which we thought was spot on.

In full creative flow, Negroni Special was released in 2017, nicely in time for Negroni week that year. Barrel aged with an enhanced Recipe #23 and bottled at barrel strength it remains the most complex and curious gin in the range.

Pinot Barrel Sloe Gin, initially a special batch release in late 2017, went so well that it is still in the range and one of our most popular gins.

Always Curious by Nature, the next step was to craft a gin that met the London Dry style brief. Curious Dry with its unique blend of just four NZ native botanicals slipped through the still in 2018.

Next came the pink gin craze and hearing the excitement from all the pink gin lovers out there, fresh rhubarb was sourced and our Ruby Gin hit the market in 2019.

As a sixth gin entered the mix in 2021, the Curiosity Scale was born with the launch of Classic. Where will you eventually land on the Curiosity Scale?

All our gins are made in small batches using whole botanicals. Hand crafted, bottled, labeled and corked by hand, Curiosity brings you truly hand crafted, aromatic gins.

We invite you to explore your curiosity for flavour in gins with a New Zealand twist.

Who knows where a little inspiration will take you.

How Curious are you?

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distillery tours

The Spirits Workshop Distillery Tour is a great way to spend an hour or two. Learn direct from these talented distillers how Whisky and Gin are made, see the stills, soak up the smell of the barrel room and finish with a guided tasting.

All our spirits are available to sample and purchase at the cellar door. Come on in and try the Curiosity Gin Range and our award winning Divergence Single Malt NZ Whisky.

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