Rotorua's Copperhead Road wins more medals

Rod Roos is chief distiller at Rotorua's Copperhead Road distillery. PHOTO/FILE

Rotorua-based Copperhead Road Distillery has picked up more medals in international competitions.

The distillery's Pure Heart Vodka has been awarded New Zealand Vodka of the Year, as well as a silver medal as one of the best vodkas, at the New York International Spirits Competition.

The competition involved a blind taste test of some 600 spirits from around the world, judged by top spirits buyers from around New York Citylate last year.

The Rotorua distiller also won a gold medal last year at the Melbourne International Spirits Competition, and now plans to enter the Berlin competition in early March, followed by the one in San Francisco in April.

"Winning these awards really gives us credence in the international marketplace," said Graham Willcox, one of five shareholders in the distillery, who looks after distribution and marketing.

"We think we have a good product. But the awards take away a bit of the bias and give us credibility."

The vodka, which has also received a thumbs up from actor/director Robert Redford, is distilled by a handful of passionate locals who started it all off as a hobby.

Copperhead Road Distillery is owned by chief distiller Rod Roos, Paul Graeff, Steve Te Moni, and administration and office person Pam Neilson, along with Mr Willcox.

Mr Roos, a boat builder by trade who currently works as a painter, created the vodka after started off trying to home brew a bourbon.

A lot of time and effort goes into their process, which uses fractional brewing, which Mr Roos described as the most pure way of brewing. It takes about 75 litres of wash to get six litres of alcohol.

"We've only just started making some income into the company so I'll be painting for a while yet before I get into full time brewing," he said.

"Winning awards is very significant because we are up against our main competition in the international market. It's great that we're getting those kinds of accolades."

The company sent a 10-case consignment to England just before Christmas, with another recently going to Australia.

In the UK, the consignment was being handled by one of England's top firms, Cambridge Wine Merchants, which has rated the vodka favourably.

Because Copperhead Road supplied 1-litre bottles, it ranked as one of the most expensive as most UK products came in 700ml bottles, said Mr Willcox.

But on a volume basis, the Pure Heart Vodka probably came in slightly cheaper than competitors such as actor Dan Ackroyd's Crystal Head product, he said.