Waiheke Whisky comes from Waiheke Island in New Zealand. Waiheke is a small island in the Hauraki Gulf, just a 40 minute ferry ride east of Auckland. The island has a strong tourism industry and is renowned for its vineyards and wineries, its beaches, and restaurants. Although it’s popular for day trips or weekend stays out of Auckland, the small island – just 92km2 in area – is home to roughly 9,000 people. As a point of reference and context that many readers will appreciate, Islay is roughly 620km2 in comparison and home to just over 3,000 inhabitants. Islay is obviously well known for its whiskies. One suspects Waiheke isn’t too far behind!
The distillery itself has an incredible story that showcases extraordinary enthusiasm, passion, initiative, independence, and determination by its founders, together with a journey and evolution that belies its years. Indeed, evolution is key to appreciating Waiheke’s story, and it would be an injustice not to outline some of it here.
The distillery’s origins date back to 2008 and was founded by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Izzard and Roanne Parker, together with Richard Evatt. Mark and Richard initially bought a 50L still and it started as a hobby with a lot of trial and error. (Non-commercial, home distilling is legal in New Zealand.) “There was no-long term goal other than to make the best whisky we could, but it was really for ourselves and friends…there was no real business plan at that stage,” Mark explains. “It started to grow after a discussion with a friend who had a tasting and suggested we build a bigger still to make more.”
An extraordinary feature of Waiheke’s story is the owners’ propensity to make/build/develop things themselves, and they set about building their first still – a geodesic, no less, aptly named Vitriol 1. They also built their own mash tun, purchased a fermenter, and got stuck in! As is near-universal in the stories of small, start-up distilleries, this was all done on the side in limited spare time whilst balancing full-time careers in other sectors.
In 2010, the founders resolved to make the operation a going concern, incorporating the company. They built a second, larger geodesic (Vitriol 2!) which was commissioned in 2012 to serve as the wash still, and they acquired additional fermenters to increase production. In 2013/14 they moved to new premises at Mudbrick Winery and scaled up their production. And, yet, it would be nine years until they launched their first, official release. Good things take time.
Having absolutely fallen in love with the process and opportunities, Roanne, Mark, and Richard went the whole hog: The third chapter of the distillery’s story was the owners’ decision to build an all-new, purpose-designed distillery and brand home. New, bespoke six metre-high stills were commissioned from Scotland (a 3,000L wash still and a 2,500L spirit still that incorporates elements of the geodesic principle, so as to maximise the ratio of surface area to volume), and 2022/23 was spent putting together the facility which goes by the name The Heke. The Heke is an impressive restaurant, bar, and function centre, and is also obviously home to the brewery and distillery. Again, almost every aspect of production – including some impressive software – was designed and built inhouse. In fact, it would be remiss not to make mention of how independent the Waiheke distillery has been in its development. Some of this is a function of being isolated on an island; some of it is simply a reflection of the founders’ initiative, confidence, and brainpower. Compared to other small, start-up distilleries, it’s impressive how little input or guidance the founders sought from external parties. (The notable exception occurred very recently, with Scotch whisky luminary and legend, Alan Winchester, spending time with the team on the island and giving tips and ideas on how they could tweak their production operations and procedures).
In terms of production capacity, Waiheke is now one of the larger of New Zealand’s new wave of distilleries. If firing on all cylinders and optimised, the distillery has a capacity of 400 OLA (litres of pure alcohol) per day. Current production is around 200 OLA per day for five days a week and it’s worth noting the distilling team does everything: Milling, mashing, and brewing, prior to the distillation. (This is in contrast to some other new distilleries that outsource their wash). Again, it’s a combination of being isolated on an island and the owners’ initiative and independence, but as Roanne explains, “We literally didn’t know that there was a choice to buy in wash or use smaller casks!”
The Heke – Distillery, bar, function centre, and tourist destination! (Click on images to enlarge)
Production is a mix of both unpeated and peated campaigns. Unlike Australian peated whiskies, where the peat is infused into re-wetted, already-malted barley via a post-smoking method, Waiheke uses a genuinely peated malt using NZ peat, supplied by Gladfield Maltings in Canterbury. The peat comes from Invercargill, right down in the south of the country, and is burned in a separate oven that then feeds the peatsmoke directly to the kiln. It’s impressive stuff: I was fortunate enough to try a sample of peated new make spirit from Waiheke – one that came off the stills in 2022, and also a new sample of unpeated new make that was produced under the tweaked production following Alan Winchester’s recent visit. Both new makes were easily amongst the best I’ve ever tasted. (And that’s from a tasting library of over 60 distilleries, so not a light statement!)
Unlike many new and/or small distilleries to enter the scene in the last two decades, Waiheke opted straight for large-size casks and long-term maturation. With a vibrant wine industry on the island, it’s no surprise that a lot of Waiheke’s spirit has been filled into ex-wine casks – either for full maturation terms or for shorter finishing periods. (Some from wineries less than one kilometre away!) Australian Apera (sherry) casks have also been filled, but American oak, ex-bourbon casks form the mainstay of the maturation regimen. The distillery’s releases to-date have mostly been small-batch vattings of multiple casks, or occasionally single-cask bottlings. The distillery is deliberately and delightfully transparent about what’s in the bottle, and their Waiheke Whisky’s labels provide considerable information about the malt, the wood, the age, and any other relevant features – even the yeast!
There are challenges in setting up a new distillery (let alone doing it three times!); there are challenges and increased costs being on an island; and there are challenges simply in getting your whisky to market. With so many hurdles to overcome, I asked Mark what he was most proud of? His answer is telling: “That we designed and pretty much built our new distillery ourselves. From the PID design, custom made fermenters, and stills….we built the automation, designed the interface and programmed the software. All the tanks and vessels were put in place using our forklift, other than the stills. All the steam plumbing and electronics were home-made, down to 3D printing interface modules for pneumatic actuators! The distillery is self-sufficient and sustainable in terms of water; waste management and all power is from renewable energy. The only bit we didn’t do was the high voltage electrics. It’s been a labour of love for two years and a full-on, hands-on experience. But we know how every little bit works and we can fix it ourselves.”
The “New Zealand Peat” tasting pack from Waiheke Whisky (Click on images to enlarge)
Courtesy of one of Waiheke Whisky’s Tasting Packs, (they’ve produced a few different ones, giving an excellent opportunity to try a variety of their releases – our particular pack was the “New Zealand Peat” pack), Whisky & Wisdom sat down and tried the Seris 1 (Release 02), the Moss (Release 01), and the Bog Monster (Release 05). Buoyed by how good these were, we subsequently also tried The Sweetwater (Release 03), and the DYAD (Release 04). All the whiskies are very impressive, displaying a rich and tasty malt that is well integrated with the oak and working in harmony. Whilst the Waiheke name might seem new to many Antipodean whisky fans, it is worth acknowledging that it’s been a 14 year journey to this point – Waiheke Whisky is not the new kid on the block. The delicious whisky now going into bottle is the result of years of experimenting; refining; working out which casks work well; how long to leave the spirit in the wood; and how to vat and blend. And let’s not deny: It’s also the result of some pretty dedicated, passionate, and talented people.
But the whisky is no longer New Zealand’s own little secret. In the ANZAC spirit, Waiheke Whisky is now available in Australia, courtesy of Malt Traders. The initial offerings come from a single consignment that was sent across the water, so Aussie’s keen to check this out should jump in quickly.
Cheers,
AD
Distillery images courtesy of Waiheke Whisky. With thanks to Roanne Parker and Mark Izzard.
I went to Mudbrick pre-covid and saw no evidence of a distillery, so this is definitely on the revisit list after Dramfest next year! You know how much I love NZ! Great article Andrew, thanks.