For the past 15 years 400 barrels of whisky from the defunct Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin have been matured in Oamaru, after they were bought by the New Zealand Whisky Co, but company chief executive Greg Ramsay said be-cause increased demand for the whisky meant there was now just ''four to six years of whisky left'', the company was investigating possible sites for two new distilleries.
Mr Ramsay said the company, which this week announced it would start exporting to the United States for the first time, had sold 25,000 litres of whisky over the past three years.
''We have 50,000 litres of cask-strength whisky left, so we think we have about another four to six years of whisky.''
Although the company wanted to get its own distillery operating by 2015 ''at the latest'', it was hoped that distilling would start on a contract basis ''basically by the end of this year'', he said.
The company's ''preferred'' option was to establish distilleries in both Oamaru and Dunedin, but there had been stronger interest from investors outside of Otago, he said.
''There is a lot of interest in Nelson and Auckland. We haven't yet been introduced to any serious investment options in the Dunedin business community, so we have been talking elsewhere.
''I think there is a lot of enthusiasm in Dunedin for us to be distilling there; we just haven't been approached by any interested investors. Whereas out of Nelson and Auckland, people have actually come to us and said they want to be involved.
''There is also good support from Oamaru, but it's much the same situation there. I think in Otago, whisky has been there and they have probably seen it fall over a few times and maybe there is a bit of scepticism down there. Whereas elsewhere perhaps they have a bit more dynamic economies at the moment,'' Mr Ramsay said.
Talks were also under way with a Nelson-based brewery to use the old still from the Willowbank Distillery.
Although ''local legend'' had it that the original still had been sold off to a party in Fiji after the sale of the distillery in 1997, the still had now been located at the McCashin's Brewery in Nelson, he said.
''It's just sitting there in pieces at the moment, but that's a pretty high priority for us to get that going.''
A recent bid to move to the Dunedin Railway Station fell through after the space was let to another tenant, but further possible sites in Dunedin, Oamaru, Nelson and Auckland had been identified, he said.
''We were very disappointed at that, but everyone still sees Dunedin as the national home for the distillery.''
Otago was viewed as the ''traditional home'' of whisky-making in New Zealand, but that did not mean the area had to be the ''first'' site of a new distillery, he said.
''We feel that if Tasmania can have a dozen distilleries then New Zealand can have the same and we would like to be involved in as many as we can.''
