Central Otago
Area in New ZealandWikipedia
183
MENTIONS
76
EPISODES
48
PODCASTS
Search complete. 183 mentions across 76 episodes found for "Central Otago".
Sep 11, 2026
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
Yeah, that's right.
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
Yeah, I'm in, uh, Central Otago, so we've just had, uh, quite a bit of snow the last sort of few days, so it's a bit chilly outside.
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
But, uh, but the mountains will be well, uh, well looking forward to getting, uh, getting some extra centimeters, for sure.
Wilhelmina O'KeeffeHOST
Exactly.
13 MINS LATER
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
You know, the water source is essentially all off the Southern Alps, you know, flows into Lake Wanaka down the Clutha River, and that's the water source that we use in all our spirits and, you know, you need a really good quality water source for, um, creating good spirits.
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
Um, we, we needed a, you know, a big site that we could, um, you know, we could essentially grow and develop and expand, you know, over the years and never have to move essentially.
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
And, um, you know, when you're selling, you know, a New Zealand brand to the world, you know, this kind of Central Otago-ness is, is, is pretty, is pretty, um, awesome for that.
Dan McLaughlinGUEST
And, um, and I guess lastly, uh, we really, um, wanna open the distillery up, uh, in the near future s- sort of for, um, you know, for, for gin and whiskey enthusiasts to come and, you know, taste and experience everything that's, that's Scapegrace.
TashHOST
I bring you today a conversation with someone I think is responsible for some of the most interesting and best tasting whiskey coming from a surprising place in New Zealand.
TashHOST
It may not often when you think about, you know, good old Spates, the three stars of Central Otago, you may not think of the Spates Brewery as being the birthplace of some pretty exciting whiskey.
TashHOST
But since the New Zealand Whiskey Collection installed their stills in the Spates Brewery in Dunedin and they've been operating, there's been some remarkable spirit coming out of the still and going into barrel.
TashHOST
And the person responsible for that is the remarkable Michael Byers.
20 MINS LATER
Michael ByersGUEST
Yeah.
TashHOST
I think it's one of the things that is exciting to me is that it's really easy to see where people have made natural affiliations into where New Zealand whiskey flavours develop and those pathways.
TashHOST
So lots of Central Otago Pinot Noir cask in the market, that traditional kind of ex-Sherry cask happening.
TashHOST
Then, you know, up north, Pocono doing interesting things with native timber finishing and looking at some of those other experiments.
Clive DougallGUEST
So that's our Marlborough Blanc now.
Morgan McCauleyHOST
So if you guys, uh, don't have roots in the ground physically, uh, is there, are you, would you do a deep down from if you bought fruit in Hawke's Bay or Central Otago or Canterbury or anything like that? Or is that something-
Clive DougallGUEST
Yeah, we have spoken about that.
Clive DougallGUEST
We have, and we'd quite like to do those, like the odd one-off here or-
Joss RuffellGUEST
Well, it's a wild beer, so it's a spontaneous fermentation.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's aged on Central Otago fruit.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Um, it's more akin to a, you know, a wine in some ways.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It spends a lot of time in barrel
Joss RuffellGUEST
Something-
Heather du Plessis-AllanHOST
And, and are you doing it with apricots?
Joss RuffellGUEST
Yeah, Central Otago fruit.
Heather du Plessis-AllanHOST
Oh.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Well, it's a wild beer, so it's a spontaneous fermentation.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's aged on Central Otago fruit.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Um, it's more akin to a, you know, a wine in some ways.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It spends a lot of time in barrel.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Sort of.
Heather du Plessis-AllanHOST
And, and are you doing it with apricots?
Joss RuffellGUEST
Yeah, Central Otago fruit.
Heather du Plessis-AllanHOST
Oh, just so good.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Well, it's a wild beer, so it's a spontaneous fermentation.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's aged on central Otago fruit.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's more akin to a wine in some ways.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It spends a lot of time in barrel.
Mike HoskingHOST
two years ago.
Mike HoskingHOST
And are you doing it with apricots?
Joss RuffellGUEST
Yeah, Central Otago fruit.
Mike HoskingHOST
Just so good.
Joss RuffellGUEST
Well, it's a wild beer, so it's a spontaneous fermentation.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's aged on central Otago fruit.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It's more akin to a wine in some ways.
Joss RuffellGUEST
It spends a lot of time in barrel.
speaker_1HOST
two years ago.
speaker_1HOST
And are you doing it with apricots?
Joss RuffellGUEST
Yeah, Central Otago fruit.
speaker_1HOST
Just so good.
Mike HoskingHOST
Any number of fury-filled meetings have been held around this country.
Mike HoskingHOST
Central Otago to Northland to Auckland to Christchurch over large scale 1,000-plus housing developments that are using FastTrack to get the tick of approval.
Mike HoskingHOST
This will cost the government votes.
Mike HoskingHOST
All the esoteric nonsense like buying back banks and AI center funding and breaking up supermarkets, it's beltway wonkery.
1 HR 25 MINS LATER
Mike HoskingHOST
I always love these travel reviews that other people overseas do of us.
Mike HoskingHOST
It's always-- I always find it uplifting to see other people come to the country and enjoy us.
Mike HoskingHOST
And, um, th-this, this person, I mean, they did a whole-- they did the cycle trail basically in Central Otago.
Mike HoskingHOST
But the, the Sixt, as in the car rental company, people told her at the airport, uh, how good the pies were.
Mike HoskingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
This is just the start.
Mike HoskingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Any number of fury-filled meetings have been held around this country, Central Otago to Northland to Auckland to Christchurch, over large-scale 1,000-plus housing developments that are using fast-track to get the tick of approval.
Mike HoskingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
This will cost the government votes.
Mike HoskingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
All the esoteric nonsense like buying back banks and AI center funding and breaking up supermarkets.
ClaireNARRATOR
The second was an accident.
ClaireNARRATOR
When the New Zealand government undertook the formidable task of constructing a railway line through the rugged and mountainous region known as the Otago Central, Mosgill became for a time the headquarters of the gangs of men engaged upon the work.
ClaireNARRATOR
Scores of new faces were seen about the township.
ClaireNARRATOR
Among these was a man named Dick Fleming, a wild, reckless fellow who drank much and talked more.
66 more episodes mention Central Otago.
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