Fernie Distillers

Canadian Craft Whisky Comes of Age at the 2023 Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition

February 15, 2023 No Comments

For the first time in the competition’s six-year history, a whisky wins the Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year.

Fort Beauséjour Peated Single Malt Whisky is the 2023 Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year. Photo courtesy of CASC

Fort Beauséjour Peated Single Malt Whisky from Distillerie Fils de Roy in Petit-Paquetville, on New Brunswick’s Acadian coast, achieved the highest score of any spirit entered in the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition (CASC) this year. It is the the 2023 Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year and the first Canadian Whisky to win the award. “We’re thrilled that our eastern artisan distilleries are receiving some well-deserved praise,” CASC founder Alex Hamer said in a news release.

The Alchemist

B.C. Spirits Gift Guide: 2021 Edition

December 2, 2021 No Comments

Start your festive shopping now.

In a holiday season with some international supply-chain blips, shop local—and shop soon!—for B.C. small-batch spirts holiday gifts. Limited-edition and seasonal items sell out fast, so if you happen to miss out this season, get on e-newsletter lists or follow distilleries on social media to watch for the next drop, and be very nice (not naughty) until next year. Many items from last holiday season are bound to be available again, so check out last year’s guide, too.

Still Life

Female spirit

April 3, 2020 No Comments

Meet some of B.C.’s women distillers, a group so small it begs the question: Why are there still so few?

Shelly Heppner, founder and distiller of Bespoke Spirit House in Parksville. Photo by Dayman-Langen Photography

March 8, 2020, likely passed in a blur for Shelly Heppner. Around International Women’s Day, she was firing up her brand-new stills to produce Virtue Vodka and Jezebel Gin at Bespoke Spirit House in Parksville, which received its distilling green light in February. “Gin is such a vixen! I do want to have a couple of different gins that will have female-oriented names,” says Heppner, who also plans to make small-batch eaux-de-vie from Vancouver Island fruit.

B.C. Distilleries

Fernie Distillers

October 1, 2018 No Comments

Co-owner with her husband Andrew Hayden, Jillian Rutherford is one of the few female distillers in B.C. They established Fernie Distillers in 2006 in a historic building in downtown Fernie, where they produce small-batch spirits inspired by their vibrant community.

531 1st Ave., Fernie
FernieDistillers.com

PRODUCTS

• No. 9 Mine Vodka
• Fernie Fog (Earl Grey Liqueur)
• Prospector Gin
• Seasonal spirits (limited)