Crowdfunding for the NZ Whisky Collection Opens

Business Agreements to Facilitate Whisky Making Announced as Crowdfunding for the NZ Whisky Collection Opens

For Immediate Release Thursday 25 October 2018

As The NZ Whisky Collection opens its crowdfund it has confirmed two important business arrangements which will underpin its new distillery and single malt whisky expansions.

From 1pm Friday 26 October 2018, The NZ Whisky Collection will be using PledgeMe to raise up to $2,000,000 to fit out a distillery and expand production in a new bonded warehouse. Shares are $1 with a minimum $500 investment.

The NZ Whisky Collection General Manager, Grant Finn said the company has a secured a long-term lease on the former Northern Hotel in Oamaru. “With the tremendous support of the Hynds Group we are set to move to The Northern Hotel and warehouse on the corner of Wansbeck and Tyne Street in Oamaru. We will fit out a new bonded warehouse space in Oamaru to house the increased number of whisky casks maturing by the seaside. We plan to put the bonded warehouse in the rear, which will potentially allow us to move our Cellar Door and tasting experience to the beautiful old front bar.”

“Additionally, we have signed a strategic partnership with Dunedin’s award-winning Speight’s the largest brewer in the South Island. Speight’s will supply us with ‘wash’. the base for all single malt whisky. Wash is a rich, sweet, flat beer without any hops added for bitterness. Speights dedicated brewing team are ideal partners and have been terrific to work with developing our wash recipes. Speight’s can produce the 500,000 litres of wash we need annually at a consistent high quality. Which allows us to focus on distilling great single malt whisky,” Grant said.

The NZ Whisky Collection has purchased new stills, which are due to arrive in November 2018 with the distillery planning to have its first production before Christmas.

“We’re excited about the future and want Whisky-loving Kiwis to join us. We have developed a PledgeMe offer which allows different levels of investment so as many people as possible can be part of the new company,” explains Grant.

There are three share packages. Each package offers shares, an invitation to the AGM and an exclusive Open Day. Non-voting investments from $500 - $2,999 come with a 10% VIP discount card and a complimentary duo tasting set. The second tier from $3,000 - $39,999 is also non-voting and comes with a 15% VIP discount and three duo tasting sets. Investments over $40,000 receive full voting rights, a 20% discount, five duo tasting sets, and the opportunity to have venue hire fees waived to host one event per year at the Distillery.

The NZ Whisky Collection was established in 2010 but its history and heritage date back much further. Otago’s Scottish early settlers brought a love of Whisky and distilling to their new home. Distilling thrived in the province until it was shut down by the government in the 1870s. It was this heritage which the Baker family drew on when they started the Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin in 1969. In the 1980s the Baker family sold to Seagrams who later sold to Fosters, which eventually closed the distillery.

It is here The NZ Whisky Collection founder Greg Ramsay steps in…fresh from proposing and project managing his first whisky development, Tasmania’s Nant distillery. He heard the legend of the of 443 barrels (80,000 litres) of mature-aged NZ Whisky distilled at Willowbank. After ‘evaluating’ the stock, Greg knew he was onto something special and immediately brought together a group of investors to purchase the lot and so The NZ Whisky Collection was born.

Fast forward to 2018 and The NZ Whisky Collection is maturing its aged casks, with new-make whisky distilled with production partners in Oamaru’s harbourside Victorian Precinct. The NZ Whisky Collection operates a Cellar Door from a tiny 35m2 space wowing locals and visitors alike with their unique collection of six NZ distilled whiskies and is about to enter another phase of growth with the opportunity for Kiwis to buy a stake in the company.

ENDS.

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