RADIO:Distilled Craft Spirits in the Okanagan Valley, BC Road Trip

We visited the folks of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery in Vernon, British Columbia. Located in the Okanagan valley.

Radio Copy: This week the Savory Road leads once again to the agriculturally rich Okanagan valley in eastern British Columbia. Among the exploding wine culture there, we found Okanagan Craft Distillery.

The place started in 2010 when the Dyck family took over a financially struggling schnapps distillery. Rodney Goodchild, director of Marketing and overall colorful fellow, has been there since day one. I asked him why he moved to Canada from his home of Ireland. He explained that he saw and advertisement that read “Drink Canada Dry” and he decided to take the challenge.

The distillery originally made what is professionally known as Eau de vie (oh-duh-vee), which is French for “water of life. ” It refers to the colorless brandy-like liquor made from any fruit that isn’t a grape. Its fermented then distilled. Unlike whiskey, Eau de vies are clear because they are not aged in barrels. That’s good news because its available to drink much sooner. So in the heart of Canada’s fruit basket, Eau de vie should be the most popular spirit, right? Rodney explained there is not much demand for Eau de vie. So why not scrap making them and concentrate on the ever popular whisky?

Rodney there are distinct government benefits to being classified as a “Craft” distillery. To earn this classification, a distillery must use local ingredients. At the moment, the ingredients for whisky are very limited in the region.

So schnapps (an example of Eau de vie) is not selling – so how did they go forward? By making popular spirits like vodka and gin from fruit. Does that mean these spirits taste like kool-aid? No, the base fruit is hardly detectable, if at all.

I tried a few sips of their gin and absinthe – surprisingly, I didn’t detect even a trace of cherry or apple – just the herbs my taste buds expected.

To keep everybody happy, The distillery continues to make the old standby Oh-duh-vee using pears apples, plums, and raspberries. They also make liqueurs from local huckleberries, blackberries, and the medicinal herb sea-buckthorn. British Columbia is rich with the herbs required to make Scandinavian’s beloved Aquavit, and they distill Absenthe the old fashioned way – Canada has no rules against thujone, the component of wormwood that ‘allegedly” dangerous in high doses and still illegal here in the states. By the way – I tried some of their Absinthe and didn’t see one green fairy.

So on to whiskey – these guys have been making corn whisky – the stuff we call Bourbon – but Canadians call BRBN. Unlike US bourbon makers, They are free to use whatever percentage of corn and aging barrel they want. Rodney pointed out that whisky making is a long process and the required grains aren’t exactly what local farmers have traditionally grown in the Okanagan – but if this whiskey craze continues, that could change.

Okanagan Spirits Distillery Website

So what’s going on closer to home?

On Saturday October 1st the 8th Annual Southern California EGGfest is coming to Upland. The event is dedicated to that odd shaped smoker and grill known as the Big Green Egg. Cooks from all over will be there to showcase their talents.

Also happening October first is The Los Angeles Paella, Wine, Beer & Tequila Food Festival on Main Street downtown LA. Professional chefs from all over will prepare the saffron-infused rice dish. There will even be a giant paella that feeds over 1,000.

For more information, visit Savory Road.com. Im Jeff Baker