NEW ZEALAND SPIRITS AWARDS 2021

In the spirit of winning

The trophy winners of the NZ Spirits Awards 2021 have been revealed at a glamorous gala in Auckland. Who took out the big awards and what’s next for the Kiwi spirits industry? The Shout NZ Editor Charlotte Cowan was there on the night…

The trophy winners of the third annual New Zealand Spirits Awards were revealed at a glamorous gala at the Hilton in Auckland late last month. Of the 14 category trophies on offer, New Zealand spirits producers took home nine.

Two trophies were presented in six of the seven categories – Trophy for Best New Zealand in Category and Trophy for Best Overall in Category.

Sue James, Chairperson of Distilled Spirits Aotearoa – which presented the awards alongside Spirits New Zealand – says the winning spirits in this year’s awards had a combination of appearance, aroma, palate, balance, finish, intensity, complexity and flavour character. “Everything is packed together in harmony,” she says.

James says the trophy winners all scored well above the rest of the competition. “The decisions of the judges were pretty much unanimous,” she told The Shout NZ. “The winners were clearly leaders in their categories, delighting the judges.”

Judged in May by 20 industry experts, including The Shout NZ contributors Cameron Douglas MS and Tash McGill, the NZ Spirits Awards received a record 344 entries this year and 313 medals were awarded to local and international spirits, including 10 Double Golds.

Robert Brewer, Chief Executive of Spirits New Zealand – who was sadly unable to attend the awards presentation due to Wellington’s Alert Level 2 announcement – says the awards are all about acknowledgement of excellence.

“They allow our fledgling New Zealand industry’s products to be judged against their peers but, perhaps just as importantly, judged against some of the strongest global spirit brands. And New Zealand is doing pretty well I must say!”

Sam Lu, founder of Taizi New Zealand Baijiu, launched New Zealand’s first locally-made baijiu in 2013 after being inspired by 42 Below founder Geoff Ross.

“My brother and I have always loved this type of Chinese spirit and, to be specific, sorghum spirit,” he says. “Back in the day, we only got to enjoy this when our family or friends visited us from Taiwan. And then came Geoff Ross acing Russian vodka here in New Zealand with 42 Below and that made us think ‘Why can’t we do the same with Chinese baijiu?’.”

Baijiu, most commonly pronounced ‘bai-gio’ (as in the Italian Giovanni), is the world’s best-selling spirit, although it has yet to gain much traction in the West. Translated, it means white (bai) alcohol (jiu), it’s distilled from fermented sorghum, wheat and grain and each brand has its own unique taste and aroma.

Lu describes Taizi as a ‘light fragrance’ baijiu. “There are many other types, such as heavy fragrance, soy fragrance, honey fragrance, depending on ingredients and the way they are distilled,” he says.

Lu says winning Best Overall and Best NZ in the Botanical & Other Spirits category is “indescribable”. “I feel great that Taizi has been recognized and enjoyed by the spirit of spirit community in New Zealand,” he says. “Starting a

business is hard, keeping it going is harder and receiving a top award for it is indescribable. All the hard work, time, and money (sold mum’s house to get to this point) have become a part of a great story.”

He says the award will be helpful to convince the Chinese community here in New Zealand to choose Taizi. “Our target used to be Chinese tourists entering and leaving Auckland Airport, now we can leverage the award and work more on domestic market.”

As well as the category trophies, three other awards were handed out at the gala dinner. They were the Master Cask New Zealand Innovation Award which went to McJaggery White Rum; the Long Story Short New Zealand Emerging Product Award which went to Mt Fyffe Distillery Botanical Gin; and the Viniquip New Zealand Design Packaging Award which was taken home by Lunatic & Lover Barrel Rested Botanical Rum. Lunatic & Lover co-founder Matt Bridge says it he is surprised about how much of a morale boost winning at the NZ Spirit Awards has given the team.

“We were trying to play it cool and be fashionably cynical about spirit competitions but that all went out the window as soon as we heard we medalled!” he told The Shout NZ. “Developing this product and recipe has been a somewhat lonely process at times, so receiving this emphatic recognition from industry peers is tremendously gratifying and has validated all the decisions we made to get to this point.”

Launching their product to market midpandemic, the Lunatic & Lover team spent a long time perfecting the rum’s unique flavour profile and the packaging design in order to stand out from the crowd – which paid off, as they won Best NZ in Category – Rum and the inaugural Viniquip New Zealand Design Packaging Award.

“There are plenty of purists that might argue it’s all about the liquid inside and they may have a point,” says Bridge.

“Meanwhile back in the real world, you have to get the consumer to want to try that liquid in the first place. There’s a lot of competition out there (more and more every day in the craft space), so it’s absolutely essential that the branding and bottle design capture the customers attention and make them want to know more.” Bridge says the packaging process for their winning Lunatic & Lover Barrel Rested Botanical Rum was, at times, exhausting.

“There were a couple of times we were told it couldn’t be done and we almost walked away from the whole concept, he says. “We are lucky enough to have a very talented (and persistent) designer as part of the company and his work with the bottle decorators and pioneering their pioneering technical process lasted two years before we eventually pulled the trigger on the final design.

“It’s probably not a road I would recommend every new distillery to go down but we had a vision and knew we wanted to achieve a design that could eventually be considered iconic,” he says.

Angie Bradley, co-founder of Lunatic & Lover, says I if there was one word that could sum the bottle design up it would be “imaginative”.

“Yes, the heft of the glass and the execution of the artwork oozes quality and those were definitely desired elements but the concepts of creativity and imagination were paramount,” she says. “The bottle had to reflect the same approach we applied to making the rum in the first place.”

With the NZ Spirits Awards over for 2021 but continuing to gain momentum each year, Sue James has high hopes that they will have an impact not just on the winning spirits brands but on the industry and New Zealand has a whole.

“For the entrants, I hope that New Zealand distillers can benchmark themselves, gain the confidence that their products stand up to and in many cases are better than overseas premium spirits,” she says.

“For distributors, outlets, bars and restaurants, I hope they feel proud to range more of our fantastic products.

“For consumers, I hope they have confidence in the quality of New Zealand spirits. The winners have been blind-tasted side-by-side on an equal playing field against leading international brands unbiased by packaging and marketing.

“And for the industry, I hope the awards improve the narrative and positive message around spirits, and promotion of spirits as a responsible drinking option.”

THE 2021 NZ SPIRITS AWARDS TROPHY WINNERS ARE …

VODKA

Best Overall in Category – Wild Rain Vodka

Best NZ in Category – Wild Rain Vodka

WHISKY

Best Overall in Category – Talisker 10 Year Old

Best NZ in Category – Thomson Local Folk & Smoke Single Cask

GIN

Best Overall in Category – Marlborough Roots Dry Gin

Best NZ in Category – Marlborough Roots Dry Gin

RUM

Best Overall in Category – Havana Club 7 Year Old

Best NZ in Category – Lunatic & Lover Barrel Rested Botanical Rum

BRANDIES

Best Overall in Category – Martell Cordon Bleu

Best NZ in Category – No trophy awarded

LIQUEURS

Best Overall in Category – RATU 8 Year Old Signature Blend

Best NZ in Category – L’Opera

BOTANICALS & OTHER SPIRITS

Best Overall in Category – Taizi New Zealand Baijiu

Best NZ in Category – Taizi New Zealand Baijiu