How do you choose New Zealand's best whisky?
Do you like a peaty pour, a spicy scotch, or a smoky sip? Neat or on the rocks?
Master distillers and judges have been sampling more than 400 international and local spirits this week at the New Zealand Spirit Awards in Wellington.
Rum, gin, rum, vodka and brandy are among the spirits being judged, as are awards for New Zealand bartender of the year, NZ's best cocktail menu and NZ's best gin and tonic.
Among the judges is Patrick Maguire, from Tasmania, an award-winning distiller known as one of the founding fathers of the Australian whisky industry.
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He says there's no right way to drink your tipple. "If you're preference is to have it as a cocktail - go for your life - it's to be enjoyed.
"That's the bottom line. I'm not one that subscribes to this idea that you should only have it neat or should have it with ice or without or anything. You have it the way you like it."
But there is an art to nailing the taste of a single-malt or blend, he says.
NZ's best whiskies and gins on display at Spirit Awards
How to judge whisky
The whisky judges have at least 72 samples to judge in one sitting - and they're assessing them blind.
Judge Jason Clark says you start by looking for a crystal clear, golden hue.
Then, it's about the nose.
"As your nose gets attuned to the intensity, you can get in there a bit closer, and I'm thinking to myself what am I [getting]? I'm thinking of the flavours I'm getting," Clark says.
Aroha Jakicevich is among the judge panel at the New Zealand Spirit Awards in Wellington.
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
While some people associate whisky with the smell of sulphur or nail polish remover, others get more exotic notes.
"I'm getting caramelised fruits, sort-of orange, candied pineapple, and barbeque smoke, a little bit maritime sea-salt, camp-fire on the beach front."
To avoid palette fatigue, or perhaps tipsiness, most judges take one full sip, and then spit the next out. Some dilute the rest of the sample with water by squeezing droplets from a pipette.
"I'm going to roll that across my entire palette. I'm looking for rich flavour, I'm looking for faults that I can pull out of it. Am I tasting raw alcohol? Or am I tasting the character of the grain?"
The judges taste the whisky in silence and deep concentration, so as not to influence each other's notes. They mark on appearance, aroma, palette, balance, and finish. Once they've finished the judging, they can discuss their results.
Fellow judge Aroha Jakicevich says it's essential to spit after each taste.
"There's like 100 whiskies we will have in a day at max. So you are wanting to spit after each taste.
"You go in and add water to see how it breaks apart, once the molecules open up and you lower the ABV [alcohol by volume].
"It's slow and steady with these tastings for sure - unlike wine tastings, where it's a lot more straight forward. Whisky has high alcohol so you want to take your time."
New Zealand whisky a 'fast-growing industry'
Jakicevich says the industry is fast-growing in New Zealand, with more players coming onto the market now.
"There's distillers that are here in New Zealand that are really encouraging the next generation of whisky drinkers by being more approachable and really explaining the flavours you find in whisky, without expecting people to know."
New Zealand whiskies are more experimental than traditional counterparts, likely to have flavours of manuka-smoke, or even brine or seaweed.
David Hawk, from Distilled Spirits Aotearoa, says the number of spirit distilleries has increased from 30 in 2018 to 170 in 2025.
Gin is still the most popular spirit being made in New Zealand, because it can be made and put on the market within days or weeks. Whisky, on the other hand, takes years to age.
But he says many of New Zealand's gin distillers have been distilling whiskies behind the scenes.
"Now some of those older distilleries, that have been around for a bit longer, have got product they are taking to market. It's a pretty exciting time for New Zealand in the whisky industry."
Jakicevich agrees. She says while whisky has an interesting future in New Zealand, for her it has a strong impact in bringing back memories.
"I think about all the times I shared it with my father, whether it be working, or on holiday, and around a camp-fire, sharing a dram, having some dinner. Kind of explaining what we find in the glass - it's very nostalgic."
