Pōkeno Revelation

Pōkeno Revelation is a core range New Zealand single malt made at Pōkeno distillery in the Waikato region of the North Island, known for its wide farmland and agricultural heartland character. It’s bottled at 43% ABV and is a distillery release that has gained broad distribution, appearing through specialist retailers in Europe and across Australasia, making it one of the more internationally visible Pōkeno bottlings.

Revelation is built around a dual maturation structure: spirit fully matured in first fill ex Bourbon casks is combined with parcels matured in New Zealand red wine barrels, then laid back down in cask to integrate as a single profile. First fill Bourbon oak tends to drive high impact wood extractives such as vanillin and coconut leaning lactones, while red wine casks bring additional polyphenols and fruit skin derived compounds that shift the profile toward berry, orchard fruit and a slightly more tannic shape.

In sensory terms, that cask design shows up as a sweet, fruit forward style, with notes in the spectrum of caramel, vanilla, mango, lychee, grapefruit and jam like fruit. The result is a modern single malt that keeps a clear bourbon cask sweetness but adds a distinctly local red wine barrel layer, giving Revelation its defining “summer fruit plus dessert” signature.