A Special Place.

Our endeavor is to produce spirits that remind you of a certain place, a terroir, a homestead? Premium spirits, each with their own distinct taste and provenance.

Our Flagship Gin

A modern classic

Inspired by the town of Cambridge, New Zealand

A story of exploration

We wanted to make a gin that reminded us of our town. A spirit that could have only come from Cambridge, New Zealand.
To achieve this, we needed a new expression of gin.
Classic botanicals are combined in modern ways to take your palate on a journey from place to place.
This gin is full of flavor and distinctly different.
Knocknaveagh was the name given to my family’s farm in County Cavan, Ireland. From there, in 1862, they set foot on a long journey across the world to settle in New Zealand.

In memory of this massive life changing step and the subsequent opportunities that have come from it, I chose to add the picture of the Old Farm house to our bottle as a reminder of the paths that bring us new and exciting opportunities.
A clean and balanced gin with top notes of Grapefruit, Juniper, Chamomile, and Cardamon.
Base notes of spice, pine, and pepper. Held together with the complexity of Angelica Root and Douglas Fir.
The result is a gin fresh enough for a Gin & Tonic, yet complex enough for a Martini or Negroni.
A gin with a distinct taste and provenance.
Key botanicals are foraged from local trees. (Grapefruit & Douglas Fir)
We hope it will become your gin of choice too!

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Knocknaveagh 1862

Our newest gin, from the oldest recipe…

So I found a recipe for “A Fine Gin" in an old antique chemistry book from the 1800’s

Explore to find out more…

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Walking into an antique shop on a trip to Auckland (would love to say Cambridge, but that would be too convenient), I saw it on display. Pages opened, calling out to be turned.

An old Irish Chemistry book

Finding the recipe for a “Fine Gin” - I had to run this through the still!

Now, I am a huge Heston Blumenthal fan… So this was also an attempt to follow in his lead and use old recipes as a window to the past and to experience what once was.

It took a bit of time to reverse engineer the botanical amounts and work out the best way to create this old style gin. I ran it as written and tasted…. good, but wow a lot of old dusty flavors. The balance was nice and certainly gave a new experience….

But it needed freshness!

It took a few experiments (Smoked Cardamom does not work… I can laugh about it now). But the updates that made the most delicious impacts were Cucumber, Orange Peel, and Lemon Myrtle.

All botanicals that add “freshness” in a different way, yet combine to round out an experience of the type of gin people were drinking in the 1800’s.

For us, the story and experience really do matter…

It has been a great pleasure to share this little bit of history with you, we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

- James
Juniper
Angelica
Coriander Seeds
Fresh Orange Peel
Cucumber
Grains of Paradise
Calamus Root
Cardamon
Lemon Myrtle
Smooth and refreshing with notes of Orange, Cucumber, and sweet ginger spice.
The complete all-rounder for any occasion or cocktail.

Knocknaveagh Black Label

A foodie’s take on a London Dry Gin

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Inspired by the endless lemon trees that line Cambridge streets, we wanted to experiment with using evert bit of the fruit. Not just its skin.
Combined with fresh local botanicals, we’ve given a modern edge to a distiller’s classic.
Juniper
Coriander Seeds
Angelica
Calamus Root
Cardamom
Whole Lemons
Whole Oranges
Lavender
Thyme
A clean juniper and citrus forward gin. Balanced and fresh ready for long summer days.
Juniper, Lemon, Orange, Macadamia, Thyme, Green Cardamom, Lavender, Angelica, and Coriander Seed.
Lovers of classic gins will find something special in our Black Label Edition.
Pairs perfectly with Fever Tree Refreshingly Light Tonic and a slice of Lemon.

Better tuned than your average Limoncello….

Presenting the latest edition to our distillery family!

The Citron Violin

Rebecca’s families lemons

Our silky neutral spirit

Finely tuned sweetness

Best enjoyed straight from the freezer or fridge - Ready for Summer!

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My Pink Gin 2023

Sold Out

Super seasonal release, very limited quantity…

An incredible marriage of our Black Label Gin and the ripest local strawberries.

This is not your pink “lolly water” this is something unique.

We will have it again next season (Nov 2024)

The local strawberries are just too good!
We had to do something special to celebrate them, so we went full artisan, taking inspiration from the Sole Gin style.
Nature has already provided the colour and taste; all we have to do is let nature shine.
The perfect accompaniment to a hot summers' day.
Pair with soda and ice in a wine glass for our take on a sparkling gin rose.
Or sip neat over ice.
We start with the ripest strawberries we can find and steep them in our signature gin for one week.
We then proof down with local spring water and rest before bottling.
No filtration, no artificial colour, no preservatives. It’s all completely natural.
There maybe seeds in your bottle.
This gin will naturally age and change in colour from bright pink to blush salmon… if it lasts that long!
The nose it incredible (if we do say so ourselves).

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Our Botanicals Tell A Story….

We carefully select our botanicals to capture and convey their unique surroundings. Mastering the art and science of flavor pairing to create layers of experiences within each of our Gin’s. Taking your palate on a journey and yet grounding it firmly at home.

Hand Crafted, Small Batch

We take pride in the spirits we produce, distilling in small batches for maximum quality. Hand bottled and sealed, as we present to you the end result of thousands of hours in search of the final blend.

Spirits that seek to transmit the senses and tastes of the place they come from, need crystal pure water from under the very earth from which they flow. We use only the finest water we could get our hands on from our local spring.

Pure NZ Spring Water

Summer in Waikato

45ml Knocknaveagh Black Label
30ml Elderflower Liqueur
10ml Strawberry Chartreuse*
20ml Lemon Juice
Combine all ingredients and shake well with ice, double strain over ice into a tumbler style glass. Garnish with freeze dried strawberry.
* 1 bottle of Yellow Chartreuse (700ml), 300 gram frozen strawberries. Combine Strawberries and Yellow Chartreuse for 24 hours and strain through a coffee filter. (This is also amazing on its own :D)
Kawakawa Cooler

60ml Knocknaveagh 1862
20ml L’Opera
60ml Grapefruit Juice
15ml Kawakawa Syrup*
Shake (5 seconds) all ingredients with ice and strain in a highball glass over ice. Garnish with a kawakawa leaf, star anise and long straw.
*Kawakawa Syrup 500 ml water, 250 gram fine sugar, 4 large kawakawa leafs, 1 star anise, 3 cloves. Boil water, once boiling add kawakawa and boil for 10 minutes, take off the stove and add star anise and cloves. Let cool down for 30 minutes with the lid on. Strain and stir in sugar. Make sure sugar is all dissolved.