ADVERTORIAL
Experience heartwarming hospitality and great spirits in a spot as old as the hills.
Nestled in the wild Karangahake Gorge, the Waikino Hotel Bar and Kitchen offers thirst-quenching beverages, award-winning craft gin and homestyle soul food.
Family friendly and full of history, it’s a favourite stop for locals and road-weary travellers.
The Waikino Hotel’s 126-year-old story is one of fire and flood, excess and prohibition, but most of all, it’s a story about connections: connecting travellers and towns, the present with the past, and the community with each other, and now it has become home to an award-winning craft distillery.
A few years ago, Kaimai Brewing and Distilling set up its operation at the hotel and released its first gin, Eliza’s Claim Gold Gin.
Crafted using pure artisan spring water and botanicals complimented with organic rosemary and manuka honey, this gin glitters with real gold flakes (just like the land it’s made on). This went on to win a gold medal in the New Zealand Spirits Awards.
More recently, the distillery’s Gold Gin and Dry Gin both earned silver medals at the 2023 London Spirits Competition, while Kaimai Brewing itself was named ‘Best Small Batch Gin Distillery in North Island’ in Lux Life Magazine’s brewery and distillery awards.
The company now boasts a range of six distinctive gins, a spiced rum, and the newest release, a beautifully crafted Apple Pie Moonshine.
It offers formal and informal tastings to groups of all sizes where the distillers themselves guide guests through the tasting process, and help them to discover and appreciate the unique flavours of each gin.
Enjoy the best of both worlds – a relaxing atmosphere and a delicious, smooth gin.
– Supplied by Waikino Hotel
