Humdinger Gin FAQs

It depends on your taste — and that's the fun part. Our Humdinger Citrus Gin is a crowd-pleaser and a Gold-medal winner at the 2023 NZ Spirits Awards, while our Dry Gin is the one for lovers of classic, traditional gins.

If you're partial to a whisky, people say our barrel-aged gins are best — and anyone who's made their own sloe gin in the UK swears by our Sloe Gin, made from fruit grown at New Zealand's only sloe orchard.

Our advice? Try a few and find your own humdinger!

Every drop of Humdinger gin is distilled in small batches in Geraldine, South Canterbury — the gateway to adventure in New Zealand's South Island.

You'll find us at 2 Talbot Street, Geraldine, an easy stop on the way to Aoraki/Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo and the Mackenzie Country. Come say hello and try a few at the cellar door.

We have! Our Dry Gin won back-to-back Gold at the 2025 and 2026 NZ Small Batch Gin Awards, our Sloe Gin took Gold at both the 2026 NZ Small Batch Gin Awards and the 2026 Super Spirits Awards, on top of its 2023 Golds at The Junipers and the NZ Artisan Awards, and our Citrus Gin won Gold at the 2023 NZ Spirits Awards — eleven golds across the range so far, alongside many more silver medals at New Zealand and international competitions.

And in 2026, Geraldine Distillery was named Sustainable Distillery of the Year at the NZ Small Batch Gin Awards — the story behind that is on our sustainability page.

You'll find the specific medals listed on each gin's product page.

Yes — we were named Sustainable Distillery of the Year at the 2026 NZ Small Batch Gin Awards.

Our rooftop solar generates more electricity than we use each year, we bottle with less than 2.5 litres of water per litre of gin, we grow our own sloes at New Zealand's only sloe orchard, and we run a $5 bottle-refill discount at the cellar door.

The full story is on our sustainability page.

Our Sloe Gin starts in our own orchard — New Zealand's only sloe orchard, with over 1,000 blackthorn trees here in Canterbury.

The sloes are grown and hand-picked at our orchard (never imported), then steeped to create a rich, plummy gin with a gentle almond note. It's a genuine taste of place you won't find anywhere else in NZ.

Mostly — it depends on the gin.

Our Dry Gin and Citrus Gin are low gluten, while the rest of the range is gluten free. We use a sugar-cane base spirit, and gluten doesn't carry through the distillation process. We don't test every batch, so we can't formally guarantee it, but our gins are highly unlikely to contain meaningful gluten.

Yes — all our gins are vegan friendly. We use a sugar-cane base spirit and no animal products, though we're not formally "certified" vegan.

All of our gins are bottled at 40% ABV.

The exception is our Sloe Gin, which sits around 27% ABV and varies a touch from batch to batch — that's the nature of steeping real fruit.

That's a good sign! A well-made gin is clear at room temperature and turns cloudy when cold or diluted.

It's called louching — the botanical oils coming out of solution — and it means there's a generous amount of flavour in the gin. Cin-cin!

Juniper leads every gin. Around it we use as many New Zealand ingredients as we can — Canterbury barley, Gisborne oranges, lemons and Ugli fruit, Rangpur limes from Taranaki, and the sloes we grow ourselves — balanced with quality spices from a specialist trader in the UK.

Yes we do! Our limited releases often feature foraged, local botanicals such as horopito, rosehip and spaniard root.

Stored well, gin keeps for several years. Keep the bottle upright, sealed, and somewhere cool and dark, out of direct sunlight.

Our original bottle supplier stopped making the square bottles, so they were no longer available to buy.

We made the most of it and upgraded to a more premium bottle, which has worked out better all round.

We do! Join a guided tour to see how our award-winning gin is made, then finish with a tasting. Check the options and book on our tours page.

No — we don't currently charge for tastings.

With so many gins on the market, we're big believers in "try before you buy", so we like to keep it as accessible as possible.

No booking needed — we like to keep things simple.

Tastings are an informal affair: small samples of each gin with the recommended tonic or mixer, while you chat all things gin with our team. We can host groups of up to 8 at a time.

Absolutely. We hold an off-licence, so you can buy gin fresh off the line at our Geraldine cellar door at 2 Talbot Street.

Pop in during cellar door hours for a tasting and take a bottle (or three) home.

We don't offer pre-orders on upcoming gins.

Sign up to our newsletter to be first to hear about new and limited releases.

Yes! We love helping with weddings, Christmas gifts, large events — you name it.

Check out our corporate gifting page, our custom spirits options, and if you still have questions then feel free to get in touch and we'll talk through the options.

Yes — we contract-distil gin and craft spiced rum and flavoured whisky for other brands. Put your label on one of our proven recipes, or commission something fully bespoke — one client product we make even won Gold at the 2024 London Spirits Competition. See our custom & contract spirits page for the details, or get in touch to talk through your idea.

Orders placed before 12pm Monday–Friday are dispatched the same day. Most arrive within 1–4 working days — allow a little longer for rural addresses.

No, we don't. Orders placed over the weekend or on a public holiday are processed the next working day.

We ship to Australia (flat $30 NZD). For other countries, email orders@geraldinedistillery.co.nz for a quote.

Another option is a freight forwarder like Jetkrate.

Yes, we sponsor selected events and community initiatives.

As a small business we receive many requests each week and sadly can't support them all. We prioritise events that bring people to Geraldine and activities our team and their families are involved with.

Visit our Community Sponsorships page to learn more.

Chipottle — Chip for short — is our awesome distillery dog, a Hungarian Vizsla who occasionally comes to work with us.

It's not an everyday thing, so we can't promise you'll be greeted by his wagging tail, sorry!