Aotea Electric Canterbury Servicing and Aotea Marlborough collaborated to get a Gin Distillery live and operational for the Elemental Distillers Ltd.
Located in the heart of New Zealand’s internationally recognised wine region, Elemental Distillers is a Marlborough-based craft distillery delivering premium spirits from individually sourced botanicals. Founded by Simon Kelly and Ben Leggett, their philosophy is simple:
“Bringing decades of combined international drinks experience, Ben and Simon believe in delivering premium craft spirits and liqueurs with a complete transparency of all ingredients, processes and production, from root to cup.”
The distillery build
Constructed from three up-cycled shipping containers, the unique gin distillery is designed to house the entire production process while promoting sustainability through water re-circulation systems and gravity-fed piping.
The still room houses a boutique 200L copper pot still built to order for their own requirements and small-batch practices.
The container housing the gin distillery has a ventilation control system to eliminate flammable risk during the distillation process. The containers were pre-wired in Christchurch before trucking them to Blenheim, where they were seamlessly pieced together by Containers & More.
The gin industry in New Zealand
In the last 5 to 6 years the local craft distilling industry has leapt forward and there are now at least 30 different gin producers with, at last count, more than 80 different gins commercially available at some scale or another in New Zealand.
The gin industry is one of the more rapidly growing categories in the spirit world in NZ. There is an increasing demand for quality. The good old G&T is still the favourite way of serving the spirit, but classic cocktails, in particular, the Negroni are quickly becoming more popular.
Show your support if visiting Blenheim. Elemental Distillery can be found at the Vines Village, 193 Rapaura Road.