DogandSwan

modern alchemy associates

The Dog & Swan Alembic Company are Artisan Distillers

and manufacturers of perfumes, personal care products and natural remedies based on botanicals native to Aotearoa New Zealand. Master distiller Sean Mac Ghabhann is a New Zealander of Irish extraction whose family have been involved in distilling for at least three centuries. Prior to that the oral history becomes a bit hazy and the written history is unclear due to the to the mass destruction of parish records during the occupation of the English. Sean brings his family’s craft to The Dog & Swan and combines it with the skills of the other partners who have a depth of experience in native flora, historical natural remedies, laboratory work, the history of distillation processes for potable spirit, perfumery and medicinal purposes, and engineering. The Dog & Swan’s pot and reflux stills are designed and built on site and are under constant improvement.

Nicolas of the clan Mac Ghabhann (’Mac Gowan’) was killed when his horse and cart overturned near Mullagh, Co. Cavan in Ireland circa 1820. It is not known if he was drunk at the time. Nicolas was a farmer and a distiller. He made the Uisce Beatha (’ishka-bah’ ~ the “water of life”) otherwise known as “Poitín”. In the hands of a craftsman like Nicolas the Poitín (’Pot-cheen’ or ‘little pot’ after the small pot still used by the native Irish distillers), was a fine, clean liquor - the precursor of all the modern Whiskies, both Irish and Scotch. The word ‘whiskey’ (or “whisky’) is an English mispronunciation of the Irish word ‘Uisce’. Nicolas had been taught the craft of distilling by his father and so on as far back as Clan history can be remembered. Certainly his forefathers had been craftsman distillers since well before the beginning of the 18th century.

Distilling was an Irish tradition. The first chartered distillery in the world was the famous Irish Bushmills Distillery - chartered A.D.1608. By the 1800s the traditional “Poitín” had been made illegal by the English invaders who wanted to control and tax all liquor production to fund their colonization and war machines. The native Irish distillers were not impressed and continued to distill Poitín communally in hideaways called “Sibíns” (’shee-beens’ - or ‘Bothies’ in Scotland). Often triple distilled, the Poitín was of far better quality than the legal spirit of the time and was in great demand in both the native Irish and the protestant / planter classes. So a portion of each run of spirit was often sold and the revenue used to support widows and orphans of the local native Irish community.

Before his untimely death Nicolas had passed the craft on to his son Dabhaid. The local excise men or ‘gaugers’ knew that Dabhaid was the local master Poitín distiller and hounded him relentlessly for the considerable reward of catching him with his still. Dabhaid was too crafty and had an efficient network of lookouts on guard wherever the still was running. Twice Dabhaid was thrown into jail on “suspicion”; the gaugers hoped to intimidate him into giving up his still and accomplices. Their hope was in vain. Dabhaid continued making fine Poitín and passed the craft on to his son James.

In the late 1800s times were still tough after the great famine and together with his siblings and O’Reilly cousins James emigrated to New Zealand. He settled between Aria and Pio Pio in the “King Country” - an area that reminded him of the green fields of Erin. He bought land bordering the Mokau River where, of course, he set up his pot still. There James made the Poitín. In those days the King Country was subject to strict prohibition. To get a legal alcoholic drink it was a day’s travel north into Waikato county. James distilled his Mokau River Poitín into his later years and the legend goes that James and his helpers sometimes got so drunk sampling a fresh run of spirit that they forgot where they buried the flagons to hide it from the excise men. If this is the case then there must be some fine Poitín still aging away under the green fields near the banks of the Mokau River.

By the time James’ son Fred was ready to take on the family ‘trade’ it was risky business to be caught with an illegal still. Indeed at one time James had tipped his still into the river when his wife made an ill-considered joke about the gaugers looking for him. Putting aside the distilling Fred took to bootlegging whiskey and port wine into the heart of the King Country from the Waikato. One time the suspension on an old Austin Fred was using to run a load of port wine into Te Kuiti collapsed under the weight of the liquor and the car veered off the road and down a bank. With a broken rib, Fred limped five miles to his cousins the O’Reillys in nearby Kio Kio for help. It was essential that they retrieved the liquor before the accident was reported and the police arrived as this would have meant jail! Fortunately word didn’t travel all that fast in the King Country in the 1930s.

It was up to Fred’s son Seán to pick up the torch and fire up the still once more. Seán had been brewing with his father since the 1960s but the call of the mash tun, still and copper worm is a powerful thing when the craft runs in the blood! Together with his friend Noel O’Sullivan they began perfecting a new reflux still that enabled them to get the control and purity of a triple distilled spirit in only two runs.

The Irish and Scots took the craft of Moonshining to the Americas in the 18th and 19th centuries where it became an industry. Arguably America was built on “White Lighting” bootlegged out of hills to a public who couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Unlike the “bathtub gin” and other poisons that resulted from the ill-conceived prohibition in the 1920s, moonshine, like good Irish Poitín, was more often than not crafted by master distillers and sought in preference to cheap legal liquor. Rogues who tried to pass off inferior product adulterated with thinning agents or machine oil to ‘increase the bead’ and give the impression of a higher proof were often caught in the act and dealt to severely and summarily.

David Millar is now technical manager of the Dog & Swan distillery operation. Seán & David’s artisan distillery is part of Drioglann an Mhada agus an Eala - The Dog & Swan Alembic Company. It is based amongst the mighty Kauri, Rimu Totora and Kanuka of the Waitakere rain forest where Seán has perfected a special Manuka Honey & Kanuka Tincture Poitín. In honour of his forefathers James and Fred, Seán has labeled his Kanuka Poitín Liqueur the “Mokau River Very Special Reserve”.

The Dog & Swan Alembic Company has also developed a range of Manuka & Kanuka healing balms and is working on an authentic Absinthe Liqueur and a range of perfumes based on original 19th century formulae from a rare 1877 first edition treatise. A Hemp Head and Kanuka Beer is also in development in partnership with Hemptastic Ltd See the reverse of this flyer for more information on the Kanuka and Manuka Honey Poitín.