Summary
Chris talks to Shiann about No8 Distilleries who are based in Dunedin. He finds out about their products which include a range of rums, gins and other tasty liquor. He also finds out what the future holds for No8 Distilleries.
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Chris [00:00:21]:
Okay. So we’ve moved inside to the pantry, and I am with, I’m gonna say my favorite crew today, which is the number 8 distillery, I think. But I’m with Shiann, and Shiann’s gonna tell me exactly who they are now.
Shiann [00:00:36]:
Beautiful. So number 8 distillery is a growing, ever growing distillery down in Otipoti, Dunedin. We’ve been in production for 4 years now, going on 5. We’ve been primarily a gin distillery with 4 main types of gin. However, our range has expanded to include limoncello, elderflower liqueur. This year we have more rum in the mix, so we have done a pineapple rum small batch. However, we are adding a 3 year aged rum, which will be out in November, a 5 year barrel aged rum, which will be out next year, and a limited edition banana passion fruit rum as well. And we also do a genuine French absinthe for the recipe from 1926, and a vodka, and an ouzo for something just a little bit different.
Chris [00:01:21]:
Wow. So I had absinthe at 9 o’clock this morning, and it was good because Sam had some as well. And Sam doesn’t normally drink, and he’s like, I can feel that going down, which is great because I haven’t had absinthe in decades probably. I am curious about, the pineapple rum, and I used to drink a lot of rum, and a lot more like the Old Navy type rum. So the berry type rum sweet rum, I guess, seems a bit odd to me. Is that sort of normal, or why why go in that direction?
Shiann [00:01:58]:
Oh, I mean essentially you don’t need to put anything with it. You know, it’s almost like a pre done cocktail. So with that one, what we do is that we have our our dark rum, and then we let that soak with fresh organic pineapple, a little bit of cinnamon, and vanilla pods as well.
Chris [00:02:14]:
Oh. I I’m gonna have you got some of that to taste?
Shiann [00:02:17]:
No. Unfortunately, we don’t have it with us at the moment. That has been a sort of small batch thing. However, as our and production progresses, that will be consistently on the main range again.
Chris [00:02:30]:
Cool. That’s good. So you said 4 years, was it?
Shiann [00:02:33]:
Yeah. 4 years coming on 5, give or take. Although, our main distiller, Julien, he’s a 4th generation distiller from Normandy, France. So he’s been distilling in New Zealand since about 2016. Technically, I mean, for himself, it’s it’s in his blood, so to speak. So some of our recipes like our limoncello are ones that him and his uncle formulated back in Normandy, whereas the Horpito Gin was the first 1 that he formulated in New Zealand. So we were a garage venture, and then we were operating for about a year out of a window space of a bar that used to exist in Dunedin called The Dog With 2 Tails. It was a really lovely kind of jazz bar vibe, and it was the Horopito Gin that, you know, sort of propelled us forward.
Chris [00:03:14]:
Oh, nice. So is this your 1st year at field days?
Shiann [00:03:17]:
No. 2nd year. So it was our 1st year last year, which was beautiful but intense. So at least this year, we’ve come back with a vengeance, so to speak, and a lot more preparedness. So we’re very happy to be back here.
Chris [00:03:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. We were here last year interviewing people. So, obviously, I missed you last year. And, and we were talking to a tea guy who’s never been to field days today, and he’s like, can I get over how busy it is? I’m like, you wait till Saturday, bro. If it’s if it’s sunny on Saturday, you’re gonna get blown away. So, you’re prepared this year. How much now we were talking about this randomly before, so I’m gonna ask the question.
Chris [00:03:51]:
How much do you go through in terms of tasting over this?
Shiann [00:03:56]:
Honestly, it actually really depends. Like, we have very small sample sizes as well, and I think at events like this, more sort of broad across the range events, people only really I mean we can do maximum of 4 samples, but people only really want to try 1 or 2. It’s quite different when we do a lot of gin specific events, so we do like gindulgence, the gintastic, which has a lot more of that, you know, tasting focus. So we go through a lot more with them, I would say, tasting focus. So we go through a lot more with them, I would say. With here, not very much. Really? Even with the number of people going
Chris [00:04:26]:
through? Yeah. Actually, it’s I’m
Shiann [00:04:29]:
quite surprised. So I mean, in today, I think we’ve gotten through about, about surprised. So I mean, in today, I think we’ve gotten through about a third of our bottles, and it’s been pretty cons well, a third of and of our bottles, I should say. So it’s been pretty consistent, but as I mentioned before, I mean, they are, you know, quite dainty sample sizes, and we use 700 mils, so it gets through quite a few.
Chris [00:04:49]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s true. And it’s not really an alcoholic, event. Like, it’s not an alcohol focused event. So that’s cool. Alright.
Chris [00:04:59]:
So, what do you see in the future for number 8 distillery? And, what should we be looking out for?
Shiann [00:05:10]:
Oh, I mean, first and foremost, I’d have to say the rum. So Julien, his his heart lies with rum. You know? If we could’ve from the beginning, we would’ve just been purely rum based. But as with all good things, it takes time. So the rum’s definitely the next big step. And then from there, I mean, there’s always something different, always something new. We’ve been having discussion about port. Bitters is definitely something that will be on the cards for us, and we’ve just moved to a new location actually in central Dunedin.
Shiann [00:05:38]:
So for the last 4 years, we’ve been working off a little 80 liters still. That’s what all of our production has been off, and now we’ve moved. We’re at 90 Bond Street if you’ve ever come visiting Dunedin, and we now have upsized to a 400 liter still.
Chris [00:05:52]:
Wow. That’s a big up upsize.
Shiann [00:05:54]:
Beautiful, beautiful, big copper beast. So a lot more production there. We’ve been a duty free the past year as well, so you can find us there.
Chris [00:06:04]:
And I can recommend the absinth. It really is, impressive. Now we’ve got a couple of questions we’re asking everybody this year to to finish up with. So the first question, we’re getting random answers all over the place, but AI, it’s the big thing at the moment. How, if you do, how do you use AI with your business?
Shiann [00:06:22]:
Oh, good question. I mean, to to be honest, hilariously enough, so many of our things have been so manual for so long. Even, like, we have only just got a electric pump to move everything forward. So before, we were pumping all of our water by hand. All of the labels are done by hand. So I mean, yeah, for AI. I mean, I think for, conceptualizing, it can be quite fun in terms of, you know, perhaps different graphic things like that, you know, rephrasing of a sentence, aspects like that. But I think so much of what we do is so physical.
Shiann [00:07:02]:
And Julian, the owner, and also myself are both very creative people, enjoy being able to engage, you know, our own creativity in the business. So, yeah, who knows? I mean, it depends on where it goes, but I think, you know, our passion lies and the very yeah. The connectivity, the earnestness that you get with that personal creativity there.
Chris [00:07:23]:
No. That’s cool. That’s a good answer. I like that. And the last question we usually ask is, do you listen to podcast, and if so, what are your top 3?
Shiann [00:07:32]:
I do from time to time. I I don’t listen to that many. I do really like, a few of the more historical ones. I’m trying to think of the last 1 that I was listening to. Gosh. Fall of Civilizations, I think. The they’re massive, massive episodes about 3 and a half hours long, and I was listening to 1 on Carthage last. This is what I do for fun when I’m not in the distillery.
Shiann [00:07:59]:
So I’ll probably put that up there. I used to enjoy some I’m terrible with names. I used to enjoy some more sort of horror based ones as well, but I’ve been wanting to, yeah, get into more as well. I mean, especially, I think winter’s a really great time. You know, you get home from work. You wanna sit down, take in some information, but in a different kind of way as to, you know, visually. So if you have any recommendations for me, I’d love to hear them.
Chris [00:08:25]:
Well, the Chris and Sam podcast comes to mind. So I you’ll you’ll get a card with that. Now just before we go, where can people find you? How can they get hold of you? And, and I assume you’ve got a online shop and stuff like that.
Shiann [00:08:39]:
Yep. So you can order everything through our website. So all of the orders are hand wrapped, hand posted by us. So any queries, you’re talking directly to the people who are making it, delivering it, bottling at the works. We are also, as I mentioned before, and duty free. We’re in I mean, dotted throughout the the country really and some Super Liquors, some Liqour Lands. We’re in Ballentine’s Christchurch, Cairns, a couple I think a few big barrels, Bottle O’s. But the most surefire way to get hold of our products and to have the whole range of products is just on our website.
Chris [00:09:15]:
And what’s your website address?
Shiann [00:09:16]:
Our website is ww.no8distillery.com.
Chris [00:09:22]:
Cool. No8.distillery.com.
Chris [00:09:30]:
Alright. So thanks very much for that, and, good luck with the rest of Field Days, and, we’ll let you know when this podcast comes out.
Shiann [00:09:38]:
Awesome. Thank you so much, Chris. This was a fantastic surprise. Really, really cool.
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