Alongside the new Third Island Navy Strength brew, the company’s original gin, launched in 2023, scored a gold award in the Classic Gin category.
Company director Jim Turrell said he was stoked to learn its new, yet-to-be-released gin had won such a prestigious award.
"We’ve literally just launched, and it picked up the gold medal for its category — the best gin in the whole competition. So we are pretty excited about that."
"To have it blind-tasted and recognised by a panel of judges as the best in the competitions — it’s very rewarding."
Their flagship Third Island Gin also picked up a gold at the New Zealand Gin Awards and another at the New Zealand Small Batch Gin Awards.
Mr Turrell said while the new gin had similar ingredients to the original, the higher alcohol content interacted differently with the botanicals the company used.
"It’s amazing how it behaves and how we had to re-blend things that we were already quite familiar with from our Third Island Gin.
"The botanicals that we use, they kind of stick to the water molecules and some of them stick to the ethanol molecules. So it does make a difference to the flavour profile.
"The Navy Strength version is very, very different. So we’re thrilled from that point of view."
Mr Turrell said he thought naval gin, which had a 57% proof profile, had an interesting history.
Gin barrels used to be stored next to gunpowder stores on naval ships.
Crews discovered gun powder would still ignite if the higher-proof gin was spilled or saturated the powder. Anything lower than 57% and the gunpowder would not work.
By Toni McDonald
