Proposed earlier this month, the Distilled Spirits Aotearoa (NZ) Incorporated (DSA) announced the New Zealand Whisky Regulations have been officially accepted into the DSA regulations on Tuesday.
Whisky is one of the highest regulated spirits globally with the DSA hoping to increase whisky quality, consumer awareness and the value of New Zealand whisky with these new regulations.
The regulations also aim to protect the whisky industry while promoting “the creativity that defines us” to help encourage New Zealand whisky to be seen as quality, premium products.
The process to develop and refine the regulations has taken the past two years and was finalised through a collaborative discussion within the DSA made up of the 19 whisky producing members.
The new regulations redefine what New Zealand whisky and single malt whisky is, including guidelines about the production process and its location as well as the bottling minimum by volume and the products official title.
Under these guidelines, New Zealand whisky can be defined as a ‘product of New Zealand’, however, whisky imported to be bottled cannot be labelled as such. The regulations also redefine prohibition, whisky terms and official whisky titling.
The full New Zealand Whisky Regulations can be checked out here.