The Reefton Distilling Co. is a distillery founded in 2017 in

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63&n ...

, in the West Coast region of New Zealand. It specialises in gin, including one named "Little Biddy" after famed West Coast gold miner

Bridget Goodwin Bridget Goodwin (–19 October 1899) was a New Zealand goldminer and character. Early life Bridget Goodwin was born in Ireland, possibly in Dublin, some time between 1802 and 1827. Her parents' names are unknown. She had little or no educati ...

Origins

The Reefton Distilling Co. was founded by Reefton-born Patsy Bass. Managing director Bass raised $1.385 million in equity to set up the distillery, from a mixture of large investors in New Zealand and Australia and members of the Reefton and West Coast community, exceeding the $1.1 million needed. Bass and her husband Shane Thrower moved back to Reefton to open the distillery. The distillery opened in an 1870s building on 10 Smith Street in October 2018, initially 10 am to 4 pm Tuesday to Saturday. It employed four locals, two part-time and two full time. Nick Secker from Blackball was hired as head distiller, and later Beth Scott as a second distiller, both

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

graduates.

Range

Reefton Distilling uses a 380 litre

column still A column still, also called a continuous still, patent still or Coffey still is a variety of still consisting of two columns. Column stills can produce rectified spirit (95% ABV). Description The first column (called the analyzer) in a column ...

from Tasmania, and has an 1800 litre copper pot still for

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

production named "George", after the gold prospector

George Fairweather Moonlight George Fairweather Moonlight (5 August 1832 – 17 July 1884) was a New Zealand gold miner, farmer, storekeeper and hotel-keeper. Early life and California George Fairweather Moonlight was born in 1832 in Glenbervie in Kincardineshire, S ...

. The distillery's first range of gin was named Little Biddy, named after gold miner

, also known as Biddy of the Buller. They subsequently produced tayberry liqueur, blueberry liqueur, vodka, and a cask-aged Little Biddy gin. Reefton twin brothers Nigel and Steffan MacKay are "distillery ambassadors", locating nearby pure water sources and foraging for botanicals to flavour the gin. Native plants used as botanicals include horopito,

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was f ...

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

, tarata, toatoa, and

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...

. In April 2020 during the coronavirus epidemic the distillery produced ethanol-based hand sanitiser.

Expansion

By 2020 Reefton Distilling Co. was outgrowing its initial Smith Street premises. In March the company raised $3.35 million in capital towards an expansion project and purchased a larger site on 1.1 ha of land and buildings on State Highway 69 between Reefton and Inangahua, 1.7 km from its Smith Street facility. The expanded premises was to include a whisky maturation store, enabling the production of a new single-malt whisky range named Moonlight Creek, using "George" the copper pot. On 25 September 2020 the distillery received a $938,000 loan from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour G ...

towards the project, and relocation was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, adding an additional seven or eight jobs. The first single malt whisky was expected to be available in 2023.

Awards

* Little Biddy Gin – Classic won a gold medal at the July 10–18, 2020 SIP awards, a consumer-judging spirits competition. * Little Biddy Gin and tayberry liqueur won silver medals and blueberry liqueur won bronze at the 2020

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...

. *Reefton Distilling Co. won 15 awards at the

and the

New Zealand Spirits Awards New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

in 2019 and 2020.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Reefton Distilling Co. website
New Zealand distilled drinks Food and drink companies established in 2017 Reefton