Old Hokonui the hot new drink for summer

Media Release
For Immediate Use
December 15, 2005

Moonshine Cocktails a hit

Old Hokonui the hot new drink for summer

In an ironic twist usually saved for the best of marketing fables, 150 years of illegality is finally proving a saviour for Kiwis this summer.

Though it’s a major departure from its somewhat tough past, Moonshine is being branded as a cocktail of choice – Old Hokonui style!

The southern distilled epic, which for so many years was smuggled around rural New Zealand in cream cans of old, has now taken on names like Moonbeam, Customs Breaker, Old Hooker and Young Hooker.

While Old Hokonui has previously been reserved for the staunch among Kiwi society, a new breed of whisky connoisseur is turning to the flavour with the advent of the cocktail range that infuses mixes of fresh lime juice, sugar syrup, soda, Dry Vermouth, Bitters, Irish Cream, the rather novel Hokonui Liqueur and more.

And though the mix combinations are seemingly endless, Old Hokonui’s four flagship cocktails are going down a treat in Speights Alehouses nationwide.

Old Hokonui distiller Peter Wheeler says the Alehouse link is a great chance to bring the spirit back to grassroots Kiwis, while also introducing it to a new market.

”The core whisky drinkers have been the ones to back Old Hokonui over the years but it’s great to offer them something a little different from what has been our staple drink in terms of the Moonshine,” says Wheeler.

“But we’re also finding more women taking it on because it’s something so different and with a history so diverse and unique. You ask anyone who has tried one of the cocktails - even non-whisky drinkers are loving it because the lime covers some of the oiliness that whisky has. The lime helps balance it and makes it that much smoother for them.”

Wheeler says people are increasingly interested in the mystique of the craft.

“But with our cocktails we wanted names that reflected the pride of the Old Hokonui persona. There’s a big history to the label in the south - you only have to look at the style of the bottle and label to see that.”

“I guess with our cocktail range, we’re just putting the glam back in whisky!”

ENDS

Speights Ale Houses can be found in Dunedin, Wellington, Timaru, Petone, Christhurch, Napier, Mt Cardrona (Mt Eden) and Albany too.

Old Hokonui Summer Cocktails

Moonbeam - short
45ml Hokonui (3 X 15ml nips)
30ml Lime Juice Fresh }
15ml Sugar Syrup } or Roses Lime Juice
Dash of Soda

Customs Breaker - long
30ml Hokonui Whiskey
15ml Dry Vermouth
Dash of Bitters
Fill with Soda

Old Hooker - long
45ml Hokonui Liqueur
30ml Irish Cream
10ml Wildberry
Fill with Lemonade

Young hooker - short
45ml Hokonui Liqueur
Dash of Pineapple Juice

ENDS

http://www.hokonuiwhiskey.com

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