The Spirits Workshop was started by four friends who thought that, with access to some of the world’s best barley grown right here in Canterbury and some of the world’s best water straight out of the tap, Christchurch should be making the world’s best single malt whisky. Grown, malted, mashed, fermented, distilled in copper pot stills, and aged right here in Christchurch.

There are two expressions currently available. The signature product is aged in small new French oak barrels for three and a half years. It has rich dark toffee and milk chocolate, vanilla, oak and soft floral undertones on the nose. Oak, dark caramel, dark cocoa, new leather, creamy tannin, floral and anise on the palate, with a slightly drying, long oak tannin finish.

The second expression, Port and Sherry Double Cask was aged in tiny 20-litre barrels made from oak, previously used for many years to age South Australian Port and Sherry. The flavours of the two barrels complement each other so we blended them together. The port barrel aged whisky brings plum and red fruit aromas and flavours up front on top of similar oak flavours and aromas as the French Oak expression. The sherry barrel aged whisky brings undertones of dark and dried fruits and raisin to the finish.

Velvety with a nod to the new world, Divergence is crafted in an urban distillery using smaller barrels delivering a richer flavour. The Whisky has the barrel flavours of a much older whisky but still delivers the brightness of a younger spirit. The whisky has a deep rich colour that comes from the small barrels it is aged in, and belies its young age.

thespiritsworkshop.co.nz