These vary, but the standard size is 200L, and at 10 years aged you would anticipate approximately 300 x 700ml bottles of whisky, if bottled at 40%ABV (and assuming a 3% Angel’s share).

Yes, this is possible for our 200L and larger private casks. While the price you pay for your private cask will be set for a pre-determined bottling window of up to 10 years, we are happy to store your cask for longer. There is an annual management fee, invoiced annually in advance for this service beyond 10 years. The fee includes e.g. insurance, storage and our distilling team’s time to monitor and care for your Moonlight Creek Whisky.

This fee will cover insurance, storage space, distiller’s time to manage the maturation etc. The fee will be set as your cask nears 10 years and may be adjusted each year.

Casks are filled regularly throughout the year and will be stored on site at our Reefton distillery. This is an important point as terroir, and proximity to the rainforest will all play a significant role in imparting the desired characteristics into Moonlight Creek Whisky.

Our Moonlight Creek Whisky programme is supported by a carefully selected team of whisky specialists. Our distillery manager, Gareth Morgan, is an experienced whisky distiller, who commenced his career at The Macallan Distillery in Scotland and worked at several other well known brands. The Macallan is one of Scotland’s most exclusive distilleries and has a strong reputation for excellence.

Every aspect from equipment, ingredients and cask selection through to bottling, is carefully managed to ensure Moonlight Creek Single Malt Whisky will stand amongst the world’s best in time.

We would be delighted to have you visit us in Reefton and once payment is received, we will contact you to let you know the available private cask fill schedule. There may be other owners filling on the same date, which is always a wonderful, high energy experience. If you would prefer a private event that you can bring friends or family to, we can discuss this at the time.

Absolutely. Periodically your cask will be sampled, and you will be able to sample at the distillery or receive a 50ml bottle of your maturing spirit if you can’t get to Reefton, so you can appreciate the taste and changes in profile of the whisky over time.

This is a great idea and we do have a number of requests for this. As you will appreciate, any bespoke design must be aligned with the Moonlight Creek Whisky branding unless you opt to create an entirely different brand for your bottles. We are happy to discuss this with you, however all compliance requirements and any additional costs will need to be met by the purchaser.

Unfortunately not, as we need to care for and monitor the spirit during maturation. We put as much care and expertise into caring for the spirit during maturation, as we do in the development and production of the new make spirit, therefore the atmosphere it sits in, and the locale with other similar casks, is all relevant to the overall characteristic of Moonlight Creek Single Malt Whisky. This is what makes it unique to New Zealand’s West Coast.

Some of our first Founder’s casks sold do remain with the purchaser. However, due to cost of casks and difficulty acquiring them at times, these now remain the property of Reefton Distilling Co..

If you would like to retain your cask once bottled, we can discuss this. They make intriguing talking points in boardrooms, BBQ areas and as furniture items. Where groups of friends or workplaces purchase a private cask as a collective, they often like to sign the cask at the fill, making these even more special keepsakes.

We will be able to provide you with freight costs at the time, if you aren’t able to pick it up.

This is one of our most frequently asked questions, and absolutely we would be pleased to do this. As a special member of our Reefton Distilling Co. family, we would be delighted to have you continue your journey with us.

This is from New Zealand’s South Island, which has ideal growing conditions and is amongst the world’s best.