Thomson

'Creativity is still a dominant principle in our distillery. We are creating a new New Zealand whisky, not a copy of whiskies seen elsewhere in the world. Our whiskies are a living response to our unique natural environment, our resources, local know-how and an honesty about being a young distillery. We’re not replicating but helping to define what New Zealand whisky is, brand new.'

The award winning Thomson Whisky was founded by Mathew and Rachael Thomson, who developed their own distillery from independent bottlers. Their location in Riverhead on New Zealand's North Island is also the hub for connecting local ingredients and innovative whisky production. They place special emphasis on using local malt from the South Island as well as the careful combination of aging techniques and flavours.

'2009. Born out of creativity and a love of single malt whisky, we started Thomson Whisky as a side project in our spare room in Auckland. Launching a single malt whisky brand as a hobby, at the time, was a little left field. Most people thought we were nuts. We were running off the smell of a damp whisky cork, but we quietly knew we were onto something. We just kept tinkering, working and building, until we had to give up the day jobs to focus wholeheartedly on this all-consuming new whisky project.'