100 Years of Auld Family Farming

One farm. One family. One hundred years.

This month marks a rather special milestone for us.

In May 1924, Bert Auld arrived at Scotts Gap, Southland, beginning what would become 100 years of Auld family farming on this land.

And here we are, a century later, still farming the same piece of Southland.

It's quite something when you stop and think about it.

The generations before us

Of course, the history of this farm goes back much further than 1924.

The land was first settled by Matthew Scott in 1852, before the McIvor family arrived in 1878. Grain has been grown here since 1883.

Then came the Auld family.

Over the past century, generations have worked this land, through good seasons and bad, changing markets, unpredictable weather and all the challenges that come with making a living from farming.

There have been crops planted, harvests gathered, livestock raised and countless decisions made around the kitchen table.

Each generation has left its mark.

And each has played a part in making the farm what it is today.

Farmers first

When people hear about Auld Farm Distillery, they sometimes assume we started out wanting to make whisky.

But the truth is, we started with the farm.

We're farmers first.

Growing grain is something this land has been doing for more than 140 years, and it's something we know and love.

The distillery came from a question we kept asking ourselves.

How do we make sure this farm is still here for the next generation?

We wanted to do more with what we grow.

Instead of watching every harvest disappear down the road on the back of a truck, we wondered whether we could take some of that grain and create something entirely our own.

Something that would tell the story of this place.

That idea became Auld Farm Distillery.

From the paddock to the bottle

Today, we grow the grain, harvest it, distil it, mature it and bottle our spirits right here on the farm.

Even the water comes from our own spring.

Every cask has a connection to the land it came from.

A particular paddock. A particular grain. A particular harvest.

And while whisky might seem a long way removed from the farming Bert knew in 1924, to us it's simply another chapter in the same story.

We're still growing crops.

We're still working with the seasons.

We're just finding a different way to share the results.

Here's to the next hundred years

A century is a long time.

Long enough for the world to change almost beyond recognition.

But some things remain much the same.

The importance of looking after the land. The satisfaction of a good harvest. The responsibility of leaving something worthwhile for the people who come after you.

We're incredibly proud of the generations who brought this farm to where it is today.

And we're conscious that, for all the work we've put into building the distillery, we're only looking after this place for a small part of its history.

One day, we hope our boys will look back on this chapter and understand why we took such an enormous leap into whisky making.

Not simply to build a distillery.

But to give the farm another future.

Here's to 100 years of Auld family farming. And, hopefully, another hundred to come.

Rob & Toni

Auld Farm Distillery