Who Needs Bourbon When You Have Award-Winning BC Liquors?

The idea to create an all-Canadian cocktail list came to Michaela Kafer in the most Canadian of ways.

“It all started on a sleigh ride,” Kafer says over lunch at Roadhouse, the restaurant she owns in Smithers.

It was early February and B.C. was reeling from the United States’ initial flip-flop on tariffs, which resulted in B.C. Premier David Eby threatening to remove U.S. products from provincial liquor stores.

Last week, as the U.S. tariffs went ahead, the B.C. government stopped selling liquor from Republican states and says it won’t order more. On Monday, it upped the ante, banning all U.S. spirits from its shelves.

The BC Liquor Distribution Branch confirmed in an email to The Tyee that it has halted the sale and importation of all U.S. liquor, adding that the products will be available for wholesale purchase — by private liquor stores, restaurants and bars — as long as existing inventory lasts.

Many might wonder what this means for restocking their liquor cabinets. Bourbon, in particular, is a “distinctive product” made only in the United States.

As Kafer chatted with sleigh ride operator Trevor Doerksen, he told her about Bulkley Valley Hive & Honey, another business he owns with his wife, Breeann Doerksen, and collaborations the couple is doing with two B.C. distilleries.

That gave Kafer the idea of creating an all-Canadian cocktail list this summer.

“Being more Canadian-focused is nothing but a good thing,” she says. “It’s waking everybody up to the idea that you need to support what we have here.”

B.C. craft distilleries are creating award-winning spirits right here in the province.

They feature flavours that are uniquely local and, in order to call themselves a craft distillery, must use only agricultural products grown in B.C. — which means they also support local farmers.

The number of craft distilleries in B.C. has ballooned over the past two decades. Today, there are dozens spread across the province. They are small, each producing fewer than 50,000 litres annually, and many have limited distribution. Most offer online ordering (join mailing lists to be the first to learn about new releases, which sell out quickly) or you can seek out the distillery nearest you.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Port City Spirits
Prince Rupert

Port City Spirits is “fundamentally a northern B.C. product,” says owner Ray Pedersen.

The distillery, which opened its cosy lounge in downtown Prince Rupert two years ago, sells a variety of gins, vodkas and liqueurs made with locally harvested botanicals — rosehips and hazelnuts from Terrace, local juniper and elderflower, and berries picked from the slopes of nearby Mount Hays.

The spirits are made with honey from Bulkley Valley Hive & Honey and barley from the Peace region in northeast B.C. The distillery even makes a coffee liqueur using beans from Bugwood Coffee in Smithers.

Port City Spirits is the only craft distillery north and west of Prince George, Pedersen says, and “the only one in the Great Bear Rainforest.”

Among its unique offerings is akvavit, a Scandinavian spirit with flavours of cardamom, black pepper and caraway, which Pedersen compares to “Jägermeister with no sugar.”

At Roadhouse, Kafer is using the akvavit to replace bourbon in an old-fashioned. It’s an example of the increased interest the distillery has seen since the tariffs were imposed.

“We’re getting positive feedback from the market,” Pedersen says.

Port City Spirits currently produces about 300 bottles a month but is looking to double its production, he adds. It is also aging a whisky, but that won’t be available for another three years.

While the distillery may not be producing at the scale of the giant distilleries, “we can make products that are just as good or better than anything the Americans can make,” Pedersen says.

Shelter Point Distillery
Campbell River

Chris Read, brand experience manager at Shelter Point Distillery on Vancouver Island, describes a “silver lining” to the cloud currently hanging over B.C.’s political landscape.

“For all the craziness that's happening,” he says, “it's increasing the exposure that we have, because people are looking for opportunities to see what is happening locally.”

The genesis for Shelter Point dates back 20 years, to when its founder, Patrick Evans, bought a 380-acre oceanside farm south of Campbell River. It was perfect for growing grains, Read says. And it happened that Evans was a whisky fan.

The idea for a distillery was born, and the company has now been producing spirits for 14 years, putting it among the oldest craft distilleries in the province. The distillery uses barley produced on site, and its water comes from the aquifer under the farm.

“We're very much taking our key ingredients from a very, very local source,” Read says.

The company focuses on single-malt whiskies. Its Ripple Rock whisky, which has the characteristic sweetness and “bourbon-like flavours” of its U.S. counterpart, makes a great substitute in a whisky sour or old-fashioned.

The company is also collaborating with Bulkley Valley Hive & Honey by providing barrels to the Smithers business, which it used to create a barrel-aged honey. The honey-imbued barrels have since been returned to Shelter Point, where they are being used to store whisky.

“The whisky is going to take on some of the flavour of the honey,” Read says. About 250 bottles of the honey-infused whisky will be released this summer, he adds.

While Shelter Point’s whiskies might be hyper-local, they are being recognized abroad. Ripple Rock won the U.S. Bartender Spirits Awards best single malt last year and two golds at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022.

Sons of Vancouver Distillery
North Vancouver

When Sons of Vancouver opened on the North Shore about a decade ago, it was primarily known for its liqueurs, like amaretto and orange liqueur, says Jenna Diubaldo.

“In 2021, we really shifted into whisky in a big way,” says Diubaldo, Sons of Vancouver’s whisky blender and a partner in the business. Two years later, Sons of Vancouver became the first craft distillery to win Canadian Whisky of the Year with its third release, Palms Trees and a Tropical Breeze.

“That really jump-started our whisky program,” Diubaldo says.

Sons of Vancouver’s whiskies are released in limited bottlings eight to 12 times a year and sell out quickly, she says. They include descriptive names like Cigarettes on a Leather Jacket, Marshmallows Over a Campfire, Last Call at the Dive Bar and Raiding Nonna’s Liquor Cabinet.

Everything is made from B.C. grains, which come from the south Peace region and Invermere. Their amaretto is made from Fraser Valley honey, Diubaldo adds.

While U.S. liquors will be missed, “there’s a lot of great B.C. and Canadian craft distillers that are making really, really great whisky,” Diubaldo says.

“I think sometimes we’re a bit overlooked, so this will give people a reason to search for local options,” she says.

Sons of Vancouver plans to launch its first mainstay whisky product this week, making it more available for customers, Diubaldo says. It’s the “first official wheated rye in Canada,” she says. The wheat brings a sweet, vanilla flavour to the rye, which is usually spicier.

“Adding a wheat punch to a rye mellows it out a bit and makes it a really nice sipping whisky,” she says. “That will be definitely an option for people to replace their American whiskey.”

Odd Society Spirits
East Vancouver

When Odd Society Spirits opened in 2013, it was among the first craft distilleries in B.C.

Owner Gordon Glanz had recently completed a master’s degree in brewing and distilling from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He and his wife, Miriam Karp, returned to B.C. and opened the small-batch distillery and tasting lounge on Powell Street in East Vancouver.

There has been a great deal of interest in their product, Karp says, especially given the recent political strife.

“This has really pushed the edge,” says Karp, Odd Society’s general manager. “We definitely are seeing a really good response from Vancouver Island and Vancouver proper, as well.”

The company uses barley, wheat and rye grown in northern B.C. While vodka and gin production can be scaled up quickly to meet demand, Karp says they also have enough whisky stored to meet the recent uptick.

She says that people can easily switch to rye or single malt to mix their favourite cocktails — or experiment with new ones.

“Both our Prospector rye and our Commodore single malt make great cocktails,” Karp says about two of the distillery’s award-winning whiskies. “It's fun to experiment. It's fun to try different things. It's like cooking — people like their standard recipe, but sometimes one should deviate a little bit.”

The distillery sells through private liquor stores and its website, which also has recipes, like the East Van Mule and The Drive.

Odd Society recently released its Burns Bog whisky, made from malt smoked with peat from Burns Bog in Delta. Glanz, who got permission to collect the peat from the conservation society because the bog was being disturbed, says the product is “a super local, super unique smoky whisky.”

“Every peat bog is unique, and the flavour is unique, so it's kind of cool to be able to have something super local,” Glanz says.

The company’s website says the name Odd Society reflects an interest in using spirits as a way “to bring together a diverse collection of creative and unique people.”

“The Odd Society is about experimentation, embracing change and celebrating our individual and collective oddities,” it says.

Sounds like the perfect spirit for raising a toast to our trying times. Cheers!

We spoke to just a few of the nearly 100 craft distilleries in B.C. Drop your local fave in the comments!