Otago farmers John and Susie Elliot have created a family-owned boutique distillery that offers something special – organic whisky and gin produced from their very own grain, fuelled by passion, pride and hard work. Words Belinda O’Keefe, Photos Rachael McKenna.

Nestled deep in the spectacular Paerau Valley of Central Otago is a hidden gem – Lammermoor Whisky & Gin Distillery – a unique farm distillery handcrafting their own product from paddock to bottle. What sets them apart is the fact that they are one of the few distilleries in New Zealand to grow their own grain and process everything onsite.

The area is steeped in gold-mining history – keen prospectors travelled across the Dunstan Trail in wagons from the 1860s, and Lammermoor Range illegally distilled ‘moonshine’ for the travellers. John’s grandfather stumbled across the original still when he returned from the war, but its exact location remains a mystery today.

When asked how the distillery came about, farmer Susie Elliot says she and husband John originally had plans to start a wind farm. After waiting for more than eight years for it to go through the environment court only to be told they didn’t have consent, the couple wondered what else they could do to provide another much-needed income source.

The seed of an idea was planted when international fly-fishers visited some years ago. ‘They often say it’s the best fishing in the world here,’ says Susie. ‘A couple of them said, “Why aren’t you doing your own whisky too?” We laughed and said, “Come on guys, we’re just farmers.” But when the plans for the wind farm fell through, we thought we’d start up a distillery and see how it went.’

‘We don’t have to transport everything in like others do – we produce everything here; the only thing we bring in is yeast.’

It went well, becoming a family-run operation in 2017 – but not without a mountain of hard work and long hours. Susie had done some distilling overseas so they weren’t going into it completely blind, but there was still a lot to learn.

Their three children have all worked on the farm. Daughter Brooke and son-in-law Scottie have their own business now but often help out at trade shows. Their son Duncan still works on the farm and runs the hunting side of things, and son Lachie is living overseas.

Susie and John’s down-to-earth, can-do attitude has been key to their success in keeping costs down. The malting machine was made from recycled drums John spotted in a paddock. ‘Everyone said it wouldn’t work, but it works beautifully,’ Susie laughs. An old machine from a tea factory was repurposed as a drier, among other recycled machines. The still is the only thing they bought new, made by Peter Bailey in Australia.

The Elliots run the distillery alongside a successful sheep and beef farm, with John having won numerous national wool awards. ‘Farming is bloody hard work,’ says Susie, pointing out that although the farm is in the family, they didn’t inherit it. With a mortgage to pay, skyrocketing fuel costs, power bills and minimal help from the council, it’s a challenge.

When asked how they juggle the distillery alongside the farm, Susie says, ‘Farmers are pretty adept at making things work. We’re proud to be farmers and want Lammermoor to become an intergenerational, sustainable farm.’

One of the highlights of owning the distillery is the trade shows they attend, where they meet people from different walks of life. ‘The trade shows have become a relief from constantly being on the farm,’ Susie explains. ‘At the start we all stood there like stunned mullets, thinking, what do we do? But now we’ve become adept at talking to people.

‘You don’t realise how important that is, because you’re way out in the boonies and you don’t get to talk to people all the time. We don’t have a local hotel any more, which was where farmers would offload. You’d walk in and discover that you may have had a bad week, but so has Harry down the road, and it’s quite a good feeling to know that lambing was tough and so was his lambing, and thank god there’s someone we can talk to about it.’

Lammermoor has several other arrows to their bow – in the form of distillery tours and accommodation, including a cottage and glamping hut, offering an off-grid experience with stunning views. ‘We have international hunters and fly-fishermen who have stayed with us for 20-plus years, and some who’ve become good friends,’ says Susie. ‘Hunting and fishing is second nature to us – we’ve learned from the best; even our grandsons have their own rods. It goes hand in hand on a station like this.’

Susie loves the different people that come through, and the fact they’ve chosen to come this far off the beaten track means they’re geniunely interested in what Lammermoor has to offer. There’s aso a 16 km bike ride around the valley and the Dunstan Hotel and jail to explore.

When asked what makes Lammermoor spirits stand out, Susie says it’s the organic status of the grain and the fact that the station is carbon-neutral. ‘We don’t have to transport everything in like others do – we produce everything here; the only thing we bring in is yeast. We’re just minnows in a big sea,’ she says humbly. ‘We’re doing it all ourselves, but we’re the genuine article.’

And the evidence of this is palpable, with glowing reviews for their ‘exquisite, smooth-tasting gin’ and their ‘superior-quality’ whisky showcased in eye-catching bottles, with apt names such as ‘Gin & Bare It’ – paying homage to the hard work of farm life. ‘We just thought it would be something fun to do with the family, and a way to create more income,’ says Susie. ‘We’re just farmers who are trying to survive.’