Lobbying for Change

Distillers across the country are joining their voices to make governments aware of changes required to give the industry a boost, putting it on equal footing with other beverage alcohol producers, like wineries and craft breweries. 

Source: https://www.freemyrye.ca/

On November 15, the Ontario Craft Distillers Association (OCDA) launched a campaign and hashtag, #freemyrye, “to get the policies in Ontario sorted out for small producers,” says Michael Waterstone, VP government relations for the OCDA and head of production and sales at Kinsip House of Fine Spirits. The campaign website explains that Ontario’s 34 craft distilleries face a punitive tax and regulatory environment, including a provincial Spirits Basic Tax of 61.5 per cent charged at distillery tasting rooms (6% at winery tasting rooms) and an effective tax rate of more than 260% on Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) sales. The campaign encourages consumers to post on social media and contact their local MPP in support of craft distilling.

In B.C., Okanagan Spirits and the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C. championed a resolution that the Vernon Chamber of Commerce presented to near-unanimous support at a national conference gathering more than 300 Canadian Chambers of Commerce in St. John, New Brunswick in late September. The resolution calls on the federal government to reduce the excise tax on distilled spirits, and to match the U.S. excise rate on an ongoing basis, for increased competitiveness for the industry in Canada, Vernon Matters reported.

News & Openings

The Gateway Gazette reported that Eau Claire Distillery, a farm-to-glass distillery in southern Alberta, launched Hawthorn Gin in partnership with with the Hawthorn Dining Room & Bar, located inside Calgary’s iconic Fairmont Palliser hotel. Hawthorn berry and 16 other botanicals flavour the gin, which celebrates renovations and a new cocktail menu that includes The Home Grown, a gin and tonic featuring the spirit.

Salish Sea Spirits joins distilleries on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, relocating this winter to Powell River, reports the Powell River Peak. The owners had previously been distilling honey-based spirits out of Kootenay Country Craft Distillery, and plan to use local apples and other ingredients after they relocate in March 2020.

The British Columbia Craft Distillers Guild held its 2019 AGM at Resurrection Spirits in Vancouver on November 16.

In late October, Nova Scotia’s fifth annual craft spirits festival, Spirited Away, was held in Lunenberg. Fan favourites like the Sip & Dash spirits-sampling tour and Distillers Marketplace returned, and innovations like a DIY gin session, a barrel reconditioning demo, plus cocktail-focused workshops on shrub-making, beer cocktails and the province’s spirited history rounded out the weekend.