| Don't like ads? | No ads |
I’m not a world traveler by any stretch, but I’ve always wondered what the bourbon scene was like in other countries. We all know that bourbon sales aren’t quite as strong in these emerging markets because Scotch has been king for so long. And when we do hear about bourbon being sold in those countries, it’s a lot of the low-proof, base-level stuff that bars in the US would have on their shelf.
Last year around the end of January, my wife and I took a trip to New Zealand to explore all we could over 10 short days. And if you’re ever thinking about traveling down there yourself, let me tell you that whatever length of time you’re planning, double it! There is so much to see and do. And while I don’t recommend that you use your time to hunt for bourbon, I did find myself passing enough liquor stores that I could pop in and out without disrupting the trip too much. Honestly, I just wanted to know what their spirits selection was like.
So join me for a few minutes to see what bottles I found. This post will be fairly picture heavy and then I’ll give a little wrap-up in the end.
Overlooked Opportunities: Duty Free Stores
This is no surprise to people that fly abroad, but you’re going to see some good deals (and some not so good deals) at the Duty Free stores in airports. We flew out of LAX and I had some time to look over their duty-free selections. Some were very good deals and some are going to be left on the shelf for quite some time. Also, there are bottles that are typically only available at duty-free stores meaning this is your only chance to get one.
This shelf was at a Duty Free store in LAX. Aside from the fact that Westland has some bottles on the shelf, I think I was most surprised to see the “non-chill filtered” version of Rare Breed. It’s being sold for only $60, yet it fetched double that amount on the secondary. I didn’t grab it because I didn’t want to start my trip hauling around more weight than I had already packed.
I know most people believe that Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection releases are supposed to be priced around $180-200, but their true price is around $130. Here we see the Duty Free selling the 20th release (Madeira Cask Finish) for that amount. I always roll my eyes when I see it priced higher than that.
The Master’s Keep bottle is about the only thing priced somewhat accurately as far as allocated bottles are concerned. The Rock Hill Farm and Parker’s Heritage is way too much (basically secondary prices) while the Rabbit Hole Founder’s Collection seems like a better deal than it would have been retail (which I thought was $1500). But still, it’s Rabbit Hole, so why are you paying that much?
I’m going to be posting some malt pictures in this article because its pertinent. Sorry, not sorry. Aside from an LE of Bunnahabain (which are never worth it IMO), the bottle that stands out the most to me is the Oban 11yr (it’s a 2023 release and was finished in Rum casks). At $117, that seemed like it was worth it. I’m a big Oban fan and finding any cask strength versions are high on my list.
Touchdown, New Zealand
Most US flights tend to land in Auckland, which has a feel similar to Florida in the summer. We were only spending about 24 hours in the city before flying out to the South Island the following day. Stepping out of the airport we were immediately greeted with a giant billboard for bourbon. How ironic.
Our destination on the South Island was a place called Queenstown. To get around, we primarily used our feet and Ubers. Luckily, a liquor store was nearby. The inside felt somewhat cold and sterile, almost like something you’d find in an ABC state-run store back in the US.
The picture above would be a common scene whereby the most dominant whiskies were those made in Scotland, Ireland or even domestically in New Zealand. The bourbon section did not contain many surprises except for maybe the brand “Yellow Rose Bourbon.” I haven’t seen that one a shelf since my last visit to a military Class Six. Also, I got used to seeing Legent in almost every store I went into. This kind of made sense to me the more I thought about it because the Sherry Cask finish is probably very appealing to people outside of the United States.
A quick look at grape distilled spirits below.
Another store in Queenstown felt more upscale in terms of selection, although the quantity of bottles was about 1/4 of what the first store had. Keep in mind, the exchange rate of NZ Dollars to US Dollars at the time was roughly $1NZ = $0.66. So those $100 bottles of Rare Breed, Basil Hayden and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel were all about $66. That honestly felt much more fair than I was expecting.
Also, check out the first-generation bottling of Cooper’s Craft on the next shelf down. That’s what it looked like in 2016 before the label (and bottle design) changed. I guess it’s not that popular of a seller if they still have bottles from almost a decade ago still on the shelf.
The third and final liquor store we experienced on the South Island had some of the highest prices, but also some of the best selection. An interesting Scotch Distillery I kept finding was Dailuaine which isn’t super well-known in the US, but is something I’ve grown to like. In my opinion, it’s a great alternative to pricey and hard-to-find Clynelish.
Finding a Micro Provenance Bruichladdich in the wild is something I could only dream of in Indiana.
I spent a decent part of a day visiting and touring the Cardrona Distillery, which I will go into detail more in another article. But what I will say right now is that after tasting what they were putting out, I’m a fan. Their distillery is set in the rolling hills just northeast of Queenstown. The vibe of that whole area kind of felt like the Italian countryside. I loved it.
Back to North Island
After 4 days, we were on our way back to the North Island where we would link up with an old Army buddy of mine that was assigned to the US Consulate for a few years (Lucky!). We went around experiencing the sites of this beautiful country for the remainder of our time and I popped into a few liquor stores during that time. Here’s more bottle pics:
I had to laugh when I saw this one. It’s one of the original Willett Pot Still Small Batch Bourbon that was (likely) filled with the earliest Willett distillate. This was batch 16D2 which meant it was bottled in April of 2016. At a price of roughly $100 USD, no wonder it continued to collect dust at this liquor store.
For everyone who has ever heard of Jim Beam selling bourbon that was under the 40% ABV minimum set forth by US law, here’s your proof. Every time I saw a White Label Beam, it was 37% ABV (74 Proof). Check out the Black Label to the right. In the US, that’s a 90 proof bottle, but in NZ it was all 80 proof. The reason why you find so many low-proof variants has to do with how taxes are levied. The higher the proof, the more it gets taxed to import it. Makes you wonder if they can bend any other rules since these are sold outside of the US – maybe like adding coloring since they’re all so watered down?
I found my first Blanton’s in a store between the beach and our rental house. But I was more drawn to the unique Jack Daniel’s collectors editions that honored previous master distillers.
I know it’s hard to see, sorry. But I have read about these before and some die-hard Jack fans try really hard to get their hands on them. I zoomed in on another angle and saw they are only bottled at 86 proof.
Wild Turkey fans will be psyched to see a RR10 on the top shelf. But that price! Ugh. Why?
I don’t have time to do the math, but if you had to pick between spending $72 NZD on 80 Proof Maker’s Mark (at least the Maker’s 46 is 94 Proof) or $120NZD on the Cask Strength version, which are you picking? Also, get a load of the Batch Number on that MMCS. That’s been setting on the shelf for 5 years at that point. This was a common trend that a lot of the bourbon bottles I saw were bottled 3-5 years earlier – almost like nobody buys the stuff. This country is going to be ripe with modern-day “dusties” in a couple decades.
Blurry picture, but I did not expect to see Bib & Tucker being sold in NZ.
More examples of 80 Proof bottlings above and below. You should know by now that these all have a higher proof in the US. I feel like I should’ve bought the Old Forester just to complete a vertical with the 86 and 100 proof versions.
I think this is one of the few Beam products that was bottled at the actual proof it was in the US.
I had to turn the label around on this Buffalo Trace just to laugh at the absurdity of it being bottled at 80 proof.
It’s funny to see that so many liquor bottles being sold in a 1 Liter format. And also I’m pointing out that Devil’s Cut (which seemed to be everywhere) was alive and well at 80 proof.
I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think the US has a Jim Beam Black Cherry. I think we call it by the name “Red Stag” or something like that.
Here’s something I found interesting. Waiheke is a local NZ distillery and they seem to be making a sort of high-rye corn whiskey. The back of the label is even upfront with its ratios saying they use 51% corn, 21% rye and 28% malted barley. If only more US distilleries were that upfront about their recipes.
In a sea of malt whiskey, I spy a lone James E. Pepper 1776 Rye Whiskey. That’s odd to see so far from home.
Another Jack bottling that we don’t have domestically – the 90 proof single barrel (ours is 94 proof). Coming up later, I found a 100 proof version with a silver label.
Export Jack Daniel’s McLarren is – you guessed it – watered down more than the domestic version. This one is only 80 proof and the domestic version is 86 proof.
This store seemed to be fairly well stocked with Willett products as is evidenced by the bottles of Noah’s Mill, Pure Kentucky and another Willett Pot Still – this time from 2022!
No tube for the Rare Breed? Psh. Oh, and I finally spotted my first live example of a Michter’s product using the “L” in front of the batch number to represent it’s an export version.
Truly Allocated Bottles and Pappy Van Winkle
While poking around in a few fancier hotel bars and restaurants during evening walks, I made note of which allocated bourbon bottles I could find. To be honest, nothing stood out. There was no BTAC, Four Roses SmBLE, Michter’s 10s, Birthday Bourbon or King of Kentucky. I figured those might be next to impossible to find until I ran across this lone bottle at a hotel bar in Auckland. The bar had just closed, so I couldn’t see what price they wanted for it, so I left with just a picture.
Yes, I highlighted the bottle so it would stand out, haha. But a lone bottle of Rip Van Winkle was kind of a surprise to find. It makes me wonder how they even got it.
A few other non-bourbon finds across the North Island
Not too much to get excited about here. But it is interesting what is socked away behind the counter and low to the floor like it was something worth hiding?
My wife and I brought back 4 bottles this trip, two from Cardrona Distillery and 2 bottles of Green Chartreuse. It was surprisingly easy to find Chartreuse in NZ and it was all between $60 and $80. I even found mini-bottle versions of it at a really high price price.
One of the things I was not expecting in New Zealand was a distillery that made a version of Mezcal they called Amigos Aotearoa. That’s the bottle directly underneath the standard bottle of Don Julio.
Goslings Old Rum Family Reserve was a unique find, I think? Maybe not. This bottle was one I was unaware of before I snapped this picture, but later research reveals it’s really quite overpriced.
New Zealand Duty-Free store
Leaving the country was bittersweet because it felt like we had so much more to see and experience. But I vow to someday go back. Here are some of the bottles I found at the duty-free store in Auckland’s airport before boarding the plane to come back home.
I am such a fool for not checking the laser code on these bottles because something tells me they’re at least 10 years old. What’s funny is they even wear the old “Signature” name on the label. That’s something that Brown-Forman dropped a while ago.
Here’s that 100 proof Single Barrel I alluded to earlier. I’m surprised it’s bottled in a 750ml bottle while the rye whiskey next to it is clearly in a 700ml bottle.
Yes, Brown-Forman was everywhere it seemed. But these exact bottles are not available domestically in the US. I don’t know of anyone who would want to buy it for so much money considering the secondary price on Jack’s Special Release from 2022 is less than this and offers a higher proof.
Conclusion
New Zealand offered some interesting bottles that we don’t have available in the United States, but few of them are truly lust-worthy and are easy to skip. If you go, by all means have some fun and see their wide array of 80 proof bottles, but maybe give them a pass if luggage weight is a concern. Instead, focus on trying some of New Zealand’s own whiskey distilleries. Yes, they are primarily focused on malt whiskies, but they have some creative ideas that make them distinctly “New Zealand.”
If you absolutely want to buy a bottle, try to get the collectors items stuff that we don’t have in the US like the Jack Danie’s Master Distiller’s Edition or Rare Breed in a tube. There are always completionists back in the US who want to have every variety they make.
I can’t wait to return back to this enchanting country because I feel like my time there was gone in the blink of an eye. Next time I’ll be better prepared!