Hamilton gin distillery Holland Road is riding high after a double gold, gold and a silver at the 2022 New Zealand Spirits Awards.
Hoping for some constructive feedback, Holland Road’s founder and number one gin maker Terry Rillstone didn’t think he’d be bringing home an award, let alone three awards. “I wasn’t expecting anything at all except to get some good feedback notes. It really gives you validation that you’re on the right track. That your products are stacking up against domestic and international products,” he says.
Crafting London Dry gins with a contemporary twist, the Holland Road Sauvignon Blanc and Green Tea – double gold, Pink Grapefruit and Kawakawa – gold, and Wild Ginseng and Manuka Honey – sliver, are all infused with locally sourced organic produce that contain natural flavonoids and antioxidants.
Based in Eureka and operating out of a humble home garage set-up, Holland Road distillery started life out as a hobby and has grown to operate commercially in the past two years.
It’s an impressive set up, with a state-of-the-art copper still, several stainless-steel holding tanks and all the gear required to craft and bottle the three award-winning gins.
Of course, like a lot of projects that start out as a hobby, Holland Road has morphed into an obsession for Terry, and has taken over more and more of the garage as his interest in gin has grown.
“It’s a big leap from doing the legal home distilling stuff in a small 20-litre still to jumping into commercial production with all the licenses, lots of hoops to jump through, a lot of money and a lot of time and resources.”
While Holland Road is part time and growing, Terry is still at the helm of his business ResinCraft that supplies fibreglass materials and mould making products to boat builders, surfboard makers, special effects studios, crafters and more.
Gin maker Terry Rillstone is winning with Holland Road.
“We used to have a retail store and it got incredibly difficult during Covid so everything is online now. I have one other guy who is my IT and product specialist, and he can run it by himself if he needs to. It’s quite a simple business model and it’s enabled me to do this (crafting gin).”
Holland Road started small about seven years ago with Terry brewing gin in a one-litre copper still and using his friends as taste testers.
“You test the product on friends and they’ll say, ‘yeah, that’s okay’. And you think – is it really or is it because you’re getting free alcohol. Most of my friends and family have been pretty honest,” he laughs.
The branding was conceived in 2019 when Terry decided to go commercial. The image of a 17th century plague doctor might seem inspired now but little did Terry know what was around the corner.
“I had been playing on the premise of the old plague doctor masks that were full of botanicals and it’s a bit ironic that six-months before the lockdown our designer had finished the design.”
Hidden behind crow-like masks, plague doctors relied on the innate power of botanicals, both as protective talismans and as a source of natural healing.
Inspired by these ancient traditions, Terry sources natural botanicals long-used for their protective qualities.
“New Zealand has so many native botanicals that have been unexplored and I’ve had some crazy stuff sent to me. I’ve got pohutukawa stamen, harakeke seeds, kawakawa berries and leaves, totora and rimu bark from 100-year-old trees that I’m playing with. There’s just so much available, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what botanicals are edible or accessible.”
Terry is always working on recipes and he’s constantly thinking about new flavour profiles to infuse into future gin and new product offerings.
Having a substantial supply of aromatics and botanicals on hand also helps with the gin cocktail recipes he concocts to share with the restaurants, bars and retail outlets that stock Holland Road.
Just like the growth in popularity of craft beers, gin has seen a resurgence in New Zealand.
The handful of commercial distilleries in New Zealand 15 years ago has grown to almost 150, with about 85% specialising in gin. Most of these, like Holland Road, are boutique, hand-crafted operations.
“Gin has just gone like craft beer. Everyone was used to getting their Lion Red or Steinlager and as soon as craft beer exploded here in New Zealand and around the world, people didn’t realise beer could taste like that. Then they get educated about what’s in it, how it’s made and the same thing has happened to spirits and gin,” Terry says.
Gin is the comeback queen of spirits. In the beginning of the 19th century, gin and tonic was the drink of choice of the British Raj. Someone cleverly added gin to the water, sugar and lime used to disguise the taste of quinine which was dispensed to the soldiers for Malaria and – hey presto, a G&T. In the 1920s, the martini was the darling cocktail of the flapper. Then, in the affluent 1980s, yuppies were downing G&Ts like water.
Contrary to popular opinion, gin was invented by a Dutch doctor who distilled schnapps with juniper berries in the 16th century. It made its way to England in the 17th century when an increase of alcohol import taxes and the high taxes for local beers and wines led to an explosion of home gin production.
Known as mother’s ruin because it was sold at incredibly low prices to poorer communities, gin was said to be a major reason why the birth rate in London during the mid-18th century was exceeded by the death rate.
Thankfully, gin has come a long way as far as reputation and flavour goes. Traditionally characterised by the flavour of juniper berries, gin makers the world over are now maximising flavour profiles with a seemingly endless array of botanicals blends.
Gin is made by infusing a neutral spirit with botanical ingredients during the distillation process. Terry sources a whey-based ethanol from Fonterra, as well as sugar cane and grain-based ethanol from New Zealand companies importing from overseas.
“There are arguments about the base spirit coming across in the flavour. Some people say it doesn’t matter what your neutral base alcohol is as the botanicals take centre stage. Some people say use a grain base as it has a good mouthfeel, but it can also hide some flavours. There’s debate both ways”
It is possible for Terry to make his own ethanol but it is very labour intensive, expensive and hard to keep the product consistent.
“There are only a few distilleries in New Zealand that have the capability to make their own ethanol and you could count them on one hand.”
With gin well and truly on the comeback trail, Terry is hoping the Government will take the same route they did with wine. He belongs to Distilled Spirits Aotearoa who are lobbying Government to decrease taxes and make it easier for New Zealand spirits to compete on the world stage.
“We’d like to see what was done in the wine industry 30 years ago where they dropped the taxes right back in order to get production up, promote New Zealand wine and get it overseas. The wine industry flourished and has done so for many years. We’re hoping they can do the same with spirits because there’s some great spirit producers here in New Zealand, and great products. If they could lower the taxes to help build the industry here, Kiwi spirits producers could do really well overseas.”
