The New Zealand Whisky Collection won two awards at the World Whisky Awards in London last month.
Its Dunedin DoubleCask received a gold award and its South Island Single Malt received a silver in the New Zealand whisky category.
Head distiller Michael Byars said he initially downplayed the award, but came to be very proud of it.
"I sort of just brushed it off for a wee while in the beginning and didn’t really think too much of it, but I went ‘hang on, this is a big event’.
"If you want to put your name on the international stage then that’s the ones you want to enter."
The South Island Single Malt also received a silver award last year, but it was the Dunedin DoubleCask that stood out.
It had been a part of the company since it was founded in 2018, although it was previously named the Dunedin DoubleWood.
"The original idea behind it was it was a whisky that was put into a red wine barrel and left for a certain amount of time. It created this very sherry-like character on the finish."
However, when Mr Byars started in 2021, the last of that original whisky had been used up. He had to recreate that character.
Buying a sherry cask from Spain was far too expensive so Mr Byars had to think creatively.
"Sherry is an oxidised wine. So why not just get wine barrels from my friends over in Central [Otago] and I’ll oxidise the barrel instead and put the whisky inside there?"
The whisky is distilled at Speight's Brewery in Dunedin then stored in barrels in Oamaru.
Mr Byars said "consistency" was the key to success.
