Cardrona Distillery, Part 2: Hand-Filling and Wild Venison — New Zealand Whisky Backed by Old Pulteney’s Owner

2026.10.05

In short: the final part of my Cardrona Distillery visit in New Zealand. Two and a half years of closed borders left it rich in aged spirit; I hand-filled a New Zealand Pinot Noir cask, tasted whisky chilled, at room temperature and with hot water, paired it with goat’s cheese and local honey, and ate Fiordland wild venison. In 2023 Cardrona joined International Beverage, owner of Old Pulteney. Part 2 by Mika Tanimoto, owner of Bar Little Happiness in Hiroshima, Japan.

▶️ Part 1: roses and the bra fence

My journey around Cardrona Distillery in New Zealand finally reaches its climax.

Here I write about the blissful experiences that close the series, and the outlook for the future.

Spirit nurtured by “stopped time”

Because of the pandemic, New Zealand completely closed its borders for about two and a half years.

Tourists disappeared just when the distillery wanted to speed up shipments, and it went through a very hard time financially, I was told.

There were days when the staff could only sit on the sofa watching YouTube, waiting for the borders to open.

But this “stopped time” turned out to be the best gift for the whisky.

Spirit that couldn’t be sold kept maturing quietly in the warehouse, leaving Cardrona with plenty of wonderful aged spirit.

Hand-filling “a bottle of my own” in a secret warehouse

Luckily, my visit was completely private.

In a warehouse where about 300 casks sleep, I had the rare fortune — rare at distilleries these days — of filling a bottle straight from the cask (hand-fill).

I chose spirit from a New Zealand Pinot Noir cask.

It had been sleeping in the same place as the 2015 first-year cask owned by Judith, the founder’s mother — truly a once-in-a-lifetime bottle.

↓ (Hand-filling in the warehouse)

A laboratory of “temperature” and “food”

In the tasting room, Dan, who looked after us, showed us a magical experiment.

We enjoyed how it changes with ice, at room temperature, and warmed with hot water.

Chilled, bitterness shows; add hot water, and the aroma explodes.

But my favourite was, after all, “room temperature.”

That was the temperature where I could enjoy the beautiful aroma of the cask most purely.

And then a pairing that 99.9% of people rave about: “goat’s cheese × local honey (Branch Creek)” with the bourbon cask.

The creamy cheese and rich honey bring out the whisky’s vanilla to the ultimate — a marriage that was truly “divine.”

Tasting wild energy: “supreme game”

The food at the distillery’s restaurant was also surprisingly high-level.

Especially memorable was “wild venison from Fiordland.”

Meat from deer raised not on pasture but on the moss of deep forests had no gaminess at all.

Outdoor seats surrounded by nature are popular too, but considering the strong UV (7 to 9 times Japan’s!), I enjoyed the rich flavours inside the comfortable restaurant.

“New Zealand whisky” recognised by a great Scotch name

In 2023, Cardrona Distillery came under the umbrella of International Beverage.

It is a global group that owns many of Scotland’s renowned distilleries, such as Old Pulteney and Speyburn.

The professionals behind those great Scottish names fell in love with the quality of the spirit made by this young New Zealand distillery, and decided to invest heavily in its future.

A small dream that began with a family staking everything has, with major capital, become able to mature spirit steadily.

Of course, founder Desiree stayed on the team after the acquisition.

If the pandemic hadn’t happened, perhaps it would still be owned by the founding family.

But with major capital it has weathered the rough seas, and a new chemistry is about to be born.

Cardrona still has no official importer in Japan.

Please enjoy this precious cask-strength spirit at the counter of Bar Little Happiness. (The online shop allocation is sold out.)

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[A note from Tanimoto] This record of Cardrona Distillery is based on my own experience there, but my English is zero, so I visited with a local interpreter. The interpreter knew nothing about whisky, so we filled in the gaps for each other. After returning to Japan, I researched it again myself and added my own thoughts and interpretations as a whisky lover.

Every encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky highballs.

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