Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Hokonui Moonshine Museum

New Zealand Flag. Author Ronnie Macdonald. WIKIMEDIA

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Hokonui Moonshine Museum

The Hokonui Moonshine Museum was officially opened to the public in 2001 to preserve the McRae family history and the legend of who was behind the bootleg whiskey. The whiskey was distilled to quench the family’s thirst and the region.
Due to strict rules on alcohol in the district where no alcohol could have been purchased or sold within the area. The McRae’s came up with an idea for the Prohibition solution, which lead them to distill the whiskey.

Since the time it was opened, the museum has been regarded as an attractive tourist site the whiskey. Every relic in the museum is real, and the stories about the McRae family are funny, and insightful and also keep visitors of all ages engaged.
Here are some of the top 10 outstanding facts about the Hokunoi Museum

1. The Name of the Museum was Derived from the Famous Whiskey

whiskey. Author Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka. WIKIMEDIA

Hokonui Moonshine Museum was derived from the Famous Whiskey that was produced illegally. Moonshine was derived from a tradition of creating alcohol during the night, thus avoiding detection.

2. The Museum Celebrates Gore’s Colourful Past as Centre for Illicit Whisky Distilling

Hokonui Moonshine Museum is the best place to learn the interesting history of Gore’s past as the Centre for Illicit Whisky distilling. During the 19th century, Gore was famous for the production of illicit alcohol known as Hokunoi Moonshine.

However, the association between the region and illicit alcohol lasted until the 1930s. This has passed into New Zealand folklore.

The production of the Hokonui moonshine whiskey used to take place at the Hokonui hills. The distillers hid them still in the creeks and gullies of the hills.

3. A Heritage Officer Spent Four Years Collecting Information for the Museum

Sue Wilson, a heritage officer, spent four years Collecting Information for the museum. Her first collection was the records of the prosecutions at Archives New Zealand.

Sue Wilson had to track down the descendants of Mary McRae. Moreover, she had to record the stories of the old-timers who had been around during the moonshine era.

The history of the Hokonui was fleshed out and converted into an oral collection of myths. Later, the history was finally recorded into a full and factual record.
Sue Wilson verified some of the famous stories. Examples of these stories were such as the one about a man who used to operate a still in Gore. He Used to do this in the back of a washhouse.

However, the still exploded and his wife was badly burnt and rushed to a hospital. The man told the doctor that she sustained the burns while making a jam. However, the doctor was aware of the still business, he threatened the couple and gave them 12 hours to get rid of their still before alerting the authorities.

4. The Museum Documents the First Distiller in the Area as an Irish Carpenter

The museum features the story of the first distiller who was known as Owen McShane. It is interesting how this Irish carpenter made a potent spirit.

The first distiller made a potent spirit from cabbage tree sap in the 1830s. It was known by a few names including the brilliant McShane’s Chained Lightning.

Hokonui Moonshine Museum also explains how Owen McShane was the only person to build a jail. After the completion of the jail, he went out on a bender to celebrate. However, he was arrested and was the first inmate, that’s interesting. It’s believed Owen McShane came to a mysterious and untimely end in the 1870s.

5. The Hokonui Moonshine Tradition Started with the McRae family from Scotland

Widow Mary McRae arrived in Port Chalmers in 1872. He was accompanied by his four sons and three daughters. Interestingly, she had carried a box marked household goods. However, the box contained her recipe for whiskey, a copper and brass still.
Hokonui Hills base near Gore is where the family settled. Mary was an expert in making Illicit Whiskey in Scotland. Thus, she continued with the business at Gore by supplementing the family’s income by illicitly distilling and selling the whiskey.
In Scotland, women traditionally made the whiskey. However, Mary McRae never followed this traditional rule, she taught her sons.

6. Read the Stories of how the McRaes Kept on the Right Side of the Law

The McRae family gained a good reputation for quality whiskey. However, they supplied whiskey to homes where they believed it would not harm. The family secretly sold their stock to professionals like doctors and lawyers.

The museum has a story of how the family kept themselves on the right side of the law. Unfortunately, the family attracted the attention of authorities. The authorities were determined to crack down on those going against the prohibition.

However, this family was super smart. They managed to thwart investigating officers by hiding any household whiskey in the Hokonui hills. Interestingly, they use to discuss the hiding locations in Scottish Gaelic, their native language.

7. Find out how Adventurous Local Moonshiners Became in the face of Police Opposition

In 1902, prohibition was passed in the Mataura Electorate near Gore. This led to the closing of 15 licensed hotels.

Hugh Sherwood Cordery was the collector of customs in Invercargill between 1928 and 1935. He was the one behind the prosecution of illegal distillers. He used an aircraft to find stills and took along his box Brownie camera to record his findings.

He was successful in finding a small number of errant distillers from the district. However, they managed to pay fines and returned to their farms.

Thus, the museum brings to life the characters and various events of the prohibition era. This is by creating the scenes with static displays, audio, visuals, and artifacts.

8. A Distillery Wing was Unveiled by the Great Grandsons of the Distillers

Tue great grandsons from both sides of Southland’s Illicit Whiskey distillers unveiled the Hokonui Moonshine Museum distilling wing on 40th Nov 2021. The great Grandsons were Hon. Stuart Nash (great-grandson of 1930’s Customs and Excise minister Walter Nash) and Bill Stuart (great-grandson of Hokonui matriarch Mary McRae).

The Hokonui Moonshine Museum Trust was delighted with the wing. The museum was now in. Position to produce the Celebrated whiskey.
Interestingly, the museum’s wing is fully glazed on the inside. This is to help the visitors to witness the process in action. Visitors are digitally introduced to the various phases of the distillation cycle by a complex computerized operations system.

The wing was designed by the distiller Steve Nally of Invercargill. The still has been fabricated by Rivet of New Plymouth company.

9. The Museum Received a Recipe from the McRae Family Member

The Hokonui Moonshine Museum was fortunate to receive the recipe for the whiskey. The recipe helped the museum utilize Southland’s ingredients for the process.

According to the recipe, first, the barley is germinated. To convert the starch brains to sugar. The sugar is dissolved by grounding the sprouting grain into malt paste and rinsed with hot water.

Then, the sugar is converted into alcohol by adding yeast. The next step is distillation to separate the alcohol from the water. The fermented mixture is heated and, because alcohol boils at 80° C and water at 100° C, the alcohol evaporates first.
The alcohol vapor rises into the neck of the still. After rising into a coiled length of pipe called the work, it is left to cool and condense to a liquid. Water is used to dilute the alcohol to 64 percent proof. The mixture is later fermented in wooden barrels, for at least three years.

10. The Museum Sells Bottles of Old Hokonui Whisky

Visitors buy these bottles of Old Hokonui Whisky and some keep them in their homes due to the colorful history of the whiskey. The label of the whiskey incorporates a skull and crossbones, originally used on Gerald Enwright’s bottles of moonshine.

The label of the bottle reads “passed all tests except the police,”. This was a reference to the 1925 Dunedin Exhibition where Murdoch McRae’s whisky received raved reviews.