Willowbank distillery
The distillery with fivenames! Sometimes known as Willowbank, Wilson’s, Dunedin, Lammerlaw and more recently Milford.
Distillation began in 1969 when the farm distillery was know as Willowbank
Distillery by the founding Baker family. Being established on the South Island (to the south of Oamaru in Dunedin
) of New Zealand which interestingly made it the most southerly distillery in the world.
Formally production began in 1974 and the whisky was released under their Baker family’s Wilson’s
brand name. In 1981 the Seagram’s acquired the distillery, replaced the stainless steel stills for traditional copper stills and released their Whisky as Lammerlaw
the name being both a nearby mountain range, and the source of water for Whisky production. The distillery was mothballed in 1997 when Seagram’s sold the distillery to Foster’s. The site was dismantled, the two copper stills and the four column grain still being sold to Fiji for rum distillation.
The remaining stock is now owned by The New Zealand Whisky Company and stored it in a seaside warehouse in Oamaru being released gradually sometimes under the Milford
Brand.
Willowbank factsheet
| Name | Pronounced | AKA | Region | Country of Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willowbank | Wilson’s, Dunedin, Milford, Lammerlaw | Dunedin | New Zealand | |
| Status | Active | Whisky Type | Website | Tours Available |
| Lost | 1969 - 1997 | Malt | Willowbank | Not Available |
| Manager | Distiller | Blender | Owned by | Parent Group |
Willowbank Timeline:
1969 : In December 1969 the Baker family started distillation in Dunedin. They named their distillery “Willowbank”
1974: The Whisky was released under their Wilson’s brand name
1981: Seagram’s buys the distillery and replace the copper necked stainless steel stills for traditional copper stills
1997: Seagrams sold Willowbank to Australian brewer Fosters who mothballed operations
Useful Willowbank links:
Can I tour Willowbank?
Yes Willowbank distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 613 of 1,043 tours to date. This gives Willowbank an overall rating of 4.5
Latest reviews
The Best Wildlife Reserve
by Deanna
Every time I go to willowbank I have a fantastic time. The cafeteria has incredible food both in the cabinet and on the menu, the coffees were great and the prices are very good. I LOVE this place. Highly recommended.
Great Native Area. Terrible Barn Area.
by Ashley
Willowbank had some great areas and some not so great areas. Starting with the great:The native area is really nice. The keas have a huge aviary that visitors can walk through. We saw around 6 kea in there. You can get pretty close to these birds.The indoor kiwi area was also awesome. It's huge and had 4 happy kiwi running around. You can purchase animal food on the way in for some wild birds, fish and larger animals. Very cool to walk along feeding everything. The not so great: The barn area is terrible. The animals are in small pens without grass. They appear crowded. It appears as though the animals live in these pens. Some of the animals are very overweight - they absolutely love being feed by all the visitors. Two cows were in a paddock with grass but everything else was in pens with dirt, concrete or wood underneath. I personally would not revisit because of this barn area. I would recommend spending a little more and spending a day at Orana Park instead. You cannot get as close to animals. But the animal areas are bigger and better suited for the animal.
Get Up Close
by Michele
What a handy and super venue to take the children for an up close animal encounter in the lovely park setting.
| Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|
| Excellent | 613 |
| Very good | 343 |
| Average | 63 |
| Poor | 10 |
| Terrible | 14 |