Agood ti1ne's brewing in Gore

Mary McRae used to brew illicit

moonshine in her secret still, tucked away in the Hokonui Hills near Gore in the late 1800s.

Last night, her great-grandson was set to be at the unveiling of Gore District Council's own distillery, which will use a moonshine recipe passed down through Mary's family, known as

Old Hokonui. Years in the planning, the distillery is part of stage

one of the council's Maruawai Cultural Precinct project, which also includes a refresh of the moonshine museum. The project

received $1.6 million in Provincial Growth Funding in 2019.

The still was designed by Invercargill brewer Steve Nally,

who said he was "absolutely honoured" to be involved in the project.

"One ofthe cool things about it being in Gore is that this is the perfect place for growing grain, so this will be a real field-to-table experience. All the barley, malt, and oats will come from the district, we wanted to use as much local product as we could."

Spring water from the Hokonui Hills would be used in the distilling process and honey and native flora from the area

would give the spirit a unique taste, he said.

The local barley is a variety called laureate, which h as led to a partner ship between the Hokonui

Moonshine Museum Trust, t he Eastern Southland Gallery, New

Zealand Poet Laureates, and Arts Foundation of New Zealand Visual Art Lau reates.

Pr ominent artists and writers will be hosted at the East Gore Art Centre t o design, print, compose, and h and-edition labels, packaging, and point-of-sale material for themed spirit runs.

Wellington-based poet Jenny Bornholdt and artist Gregory

O'Brien are the first laureates to take part.