We’re staying humble, despite all of the stickers

It’s not that we don’t appreciate getting all of these awards. But we’re just country boys making gin. 

When we started selling our boutique gins at the end of 2022, we figured our small town distillery would make enough for locals and some hipsters from Wellington that might pop over to Greytown during the weekend to have a taste and add some unique gins to their shelf at home. 

That didn’t last very long. 

Initially, customers found our stainless steel recyclable flasks intriguing. They liked their compact design, unbreakable lightweight construction and the practicalities of taking them on picnics or carefully concealed into sports events or otherwise dull shows (we don’t endorse that of course). Keeping their gins in the freezer was also safer in a flask, instead of a glass bottle.

A quick tasting session at our Greytown outlet soon put any challenge of packaging novelty to rest.

Peter Warren, our Master Distiller, is the epitome of a humble, quiet achiever. He’s the classic kiwi tinkerer, spending many hours in our gin lab experimenting, sipping, refining and sipping again. Sometimes his wife doesn’t see him for days. And the end result is a Greytown gin range that picked up its first medals three months after we opened, went on to win global awards in London this year and are now loved by the judges at Dish magazine too. 

Gavin Hodder, our CFO and Tasting Shed host, is a humble accountant who mainly looks after the spreadsheet side of the business. But put him in front of some enthusiastic gin samplers in our Greytown facility and he transforms into a mesmerizing storyteller, whose love for the product and the recipes behind our famous little gins is delivered with infectious enthusiasm.

As the marketing guy at GDC, it’s gratifying to see all of the parts come together. Sophisticated, delicate and innovative gins, authentic stories that bring the origins of our gins to life, and a team that includes our investors, many of whom are Greytown locals who wanted to see something special with their town’s name on it brought to life.  

Small towns like Greytown are often where the next big things are discovered. Maybe it’s our humble yet dedicated approach to what we do. Or it could be the post-covid influx of creativity into towns like ours with a more relaxed lifestyle. Whatever it is, we’re grateful to be recognised by the Dish experts who have sampled the best gins in New Zealand, and have decided ours deserve to be included on the list. Thank you!