Two years in, Marlborough Gin is Already New Zealand’s Best

Elemental Distilleries have taken top honours at this year’s New Zealand Spirits Awards beating out fierce competition both locally and internationally with their Roots Marlborough Dry Gin.

The new kids on the block, Elemental Distilleries, have quickly made a name for themselves at the third annual New Zealand Spirits Awards, held last Friday at the Hilton Hotel on Princes Wharf in Auckland. Of the top trophies awarded in each spirit category, Elemental Distilleries' Roots Marlborough Dry Gin was nominated for a double trophy for both ‘Best New Zealand Gin’ and ‘Best Overall Gin’ by a panel of 20 judges.  

That’s no mean feat considering they were up against a field of top international competitors. What’s more impressive though is that of the 344 entries in this year’s New Zealand Spirits Awards, 145 were gins! When you take that into consideration, you begin to realise just how special Roots Marlborough Dry Gin really is. 

When asked what the winning formular was, Head Distiller and Co-Owner Ben Leggett said “It starts with juniper, the single ingredient that defines the entire category. And as a hero botanical, we import our own juniper berries fresh, seasonal and from wild foraged, single origin sources”.  

Roots Marlborough Dry Gin is described as a traditional ‘London Dry’ style with a predominant juniper profile supported by an additional five botanicals, all seasonally and directly sourced from New Zealand farms and cooperatives.  

If you take a roadie down the country, you might find yourself passing through more than a few places where Elemental Distilleries source their ingredients - from Gisborne grapefruit to Hawke’s Bay coriander seed, wild Kapiti Coast kawakawa berries, organic Motueka hops and wild Marlborough gorse flowers.  

Produced at the boutique Elemental Distillery in the heart of Marlborough, the venue is just two years old and built entirely out of up-cycled shipping containers cladded in New Zealand cedar. Surrounded on two sides by Marlborough vines, the boutique distillery runs mainly off solar energy and boasts a water recirculation system from an onsite aquifer, while also creating vermicompost through feeding onsite worm farms from their spent gin botanicals.  

When asked what’s next for Elemental Distillers, Ben’s business partner Simon Kelly explained, “Well, we just released our Roots Navy Strength Gin expression with a live recreation of the Royal Navy gunpowder test and are also about to release a cheese and sanitizer from our scented bi-product…” he continued, “so whatever follows next, it promises to be exciting!”  

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