The Hokonui Moonshine Museum, Gore's latest attraction, holds more than 150 years of the town's rich history.
It details stories since the late 1800s of many whiskey bootleggers, including Mary McRae.
She moved from Scotland to New Zealand with her seven children in 1872 and purchased a piece of land in the Hokonui Hills.
Her great-grandson, Bill Stuart, recalls her three-month boat trip to get here.
"She came out here with her family and took her still with her, which she brought out on the boat marked as household goods."
Her distilling equipment was in disguise, because at the time, a licence was required to brew or distil alcohol in New Zealand.
So the McRae family started brewing illicit whiskey, known as Hokonui Moonshine, that was packaged in unlabelled cans and milk bottles.
John Falconer from the Moonshine Museum said moonshining was just part of early colonial life.
"When you think about it, there's quite a matter of romance about it — if you take the bush-clad Hokonui Hills — there would be wisps of smoke going up from various settlers homes," he said.
"So which part of smoke belonged to the whiskey still and which of the house, was very much an interesting aspect of history."
Then came the prohibition movement.
Between 1894 and 1908, 12 of New Zealand's 76 electorates voted in favour to ban the sale of alcohol. This included the Mataura District, where Gore was located.
In 1911, New Zealanders were given the opportunity to vote for national prohibition. Prohibition only mustered 55.8 per cent — 60 per cent was required to introduce it.
The McRaes evaded police by hiding their distilling equipment in the Hokonui Hills.
"The police crept up onto her house one night hoping to get some clues and everyone was talking in Gaelic, which they hadn't bothered to learn," Stuart said.
Now this story, and others, sits in the museum dedicated to all things whiskey.
Stuart said it's simply "brilliant".
"Where else in the world is there a museum dedicated to illicit whiskey? It's incredible, and good ol' Gore's got it."
The new attraction is also home to the town's very own whiskey still, designed by local brewer Steve Nally.
"I worked on the idea that prohibition still existed — so where would you hide a distillery? As an exhibit in a museum," he said.
"The main characters within the local area were the McRaes, and they're of Scottish heritage and Southland's a very Scottish place, so it seemed sensible to make a pot still."
Nally has ensured Mary McRae's brewing skills will live on.
"Obviously the McRaes were the best," he remarked.
"I've read about her process and she was following good practice, you could see that."
The still will soon be open for tours and tastings, and will eventually produce whiskey to be bottled and sold.
SHARE ME