Bottling the beauty and tastes of Kaikoura
| Published date | 09 November 2023 |
| Publication title | North Canterbury News |
In a boutique distillery, tucked away in her garage on the family farm at the foot of Mt Fyffe, Justine is telling her story about her home through her Woolshed and Shearwater Gin.
Botanicals collected from around the farm, and beyond to the rugged coastline of Kaikoura, provide unique ingredients, and a snap shot of Kaikoura in each bottle.
She says it has been a hell of a ride over the past two years, but she is proud and passionate about what she has achieved at her business — Mt Fyffe Distillery.
‘‘It is a wonderful hobby, and I have fallen in love with it. It is heaven’’.
Her gin, indeed, does reach to the heavens, with Justine teaming up with South Pacific helicopters, to give visitors a 30 minute fight over the Kaikoura peninsula and Seaward Kaikoura Range, before landing a top Mt Fyffe where guests taste Justine’s boutique gin, and hear her story about making the gin on her farm at the foot of the mountain.
Her boutique business is a long way from being a midwife for Justine.
More than two years ago she decided it was time to diversify on the family’s Mt Fyffe farm.
She completed a gin course, and then went on to create her first gin, launching her business in July 2021.
Being a one-person band has its ups and downs, but it means her gin is a niche product, only producing about 1800 bottles a year.
‘‘It is pretty big for a hobby, but the amount I produce is dependent on me foraging for botanicals.
‘‘I work hard, but it’s wonderful.’’
Foraging is for everything from mint, elderflowers and kanuka, to rosehip berries, blue borage and native seaweed.
Justine loves a good challenge, loves to learn and create, and ‘‘if I can bring a little smile to your face when you drink either the Woolshed or Shearwater Gin, then that makes a me very happy person indeed’’.
It took a few attempts to get her Woolshed Gin just right, but once she found it, she knew it was a cracking gin — bold, botanical and ‘‘bursting with just the right amount of attitude to make you want another taste’’.
‘‘The Woolshed Gin finds its uniqueness by using elderflowers which hang over our lamb pen, mint that grows in little pockets scattered about the farm, and the flowers of the kanuka bushes which protect and shelter our stock in adverse weather.
Her Shearwater Gin, is a unique blend inspired by the little Hutton shearwater birds...
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