Pōkeno Distillery

Limited Release, Prohibition Porter Single Malt

46% ABV 

New Zealand Single Malt Whisky

After a full maturation in a first fill bourbon barrel, Pōkeno has finished the whisky in a barrel which were lent to the good friends of the distillery Liberty Brewing, for the maturation of their fantastic Prohibition Porter.

The result is an incredibly smooth and rich single malt, with notes of cocoa and chocolate, which combine beautifully with the citrus and vanilla.

Review from Jim Murray - (Liquid Gold Medal)

"The malt is brittle and profound. In the background, though, the pleasant acidic nip of something a little burned... What a delivery! Unique! And truly delicious. Myriad barley tones fizz at the taste buds, ranging from an almost Irish pot still unmalted hardness, through concentrated, sweet barley and finally reaching something far more toasty and eye-watering. In the meantime the structure of the whisky itself changes and becomes increasingly oily to the point of outright creaminess...almost like an old- fashioned milk stout...  and now we’re back to that burnt malt character again...but so much more. The cream brings with it some latent cocoa and even some Seville orange from gawd knows where. The final embers though are those of intense malt and chalky vanillas: complex; OK, OK, I admit it! Experience has taught me to fear the worst with beer accented whisky: the hop bitterness has ruined many a promising distillation. So, I feared the worst. Not here, though. The main characteristic from the Porter is a prevailing roastiness, with a chocolatey sub-plot. Thankfully the hop makes no appearance whatsoever. Creamy and complex, it belies its years with an assured performance, surprising for a new distillery...A minor classic, it has to be said. And for a three-year-old...simply ridiculously good..."

About the Distillery

In 2017 Pōkeno Whisky was founded with a vision to put New Zealand on the map as a producer of single malt whisky. It is the largest single malt distillery in the country.

Today, the Pōkeno Whisky Company handles all processing on site at a state-of-the-art distillery with maturation warehouses, filtration and bottling facilities, and a fully functional cooperage.

Everything done there is driven by a goal to create one of the world’s great Single Malts. Batch production, long fermentation, and slow distillation are just a few of the things that help make them different. As craft distillers, they are also able to focus on quality over quantity and on doing things their way, not the easy way.

Using only pure volcanic spring water from the North Island distillery’s surrounding volcanic hills and family-farmed barley from New Zealand’s rich, fertile South Island, Pōkeno selects only the finest casks to mature their precious spirit, and the warm subtropical local climate accelerates its maturation and flavor development.

All of this allows Pōkeno to produce Single Malt whisky with exceptional body and flavor; whisky that captures the pure spirit of Aotearoa New Zealand.

"The New Zealand spirit is forged through a unique marriage of culture and climate. It's an intangible phenomenon that produces tangible greatness and enables Kiwis to fearlessly punch above their weight on a global stage. And it's this spirit that inspires us to experiment with flavour to create world-class- but distinctively different - single malts.

There is no compromise in anything we do, and I would like to thank you for joining us on this journey of discovery, not just of our whisky, but of Aotearoa New Zealand."

— Matt Johns, Founder Pōkeno