Next Act: Distiller Ken Winchester

To kick off 2021, we’re proud to present a Q&A with pioneering B.C. distiller Ken Winchester — the creator of Victoria Gin and farm-to-flask DEVINE Winery & Distillery spirits like Glen Saanich single malt. He’s been an informal mentor and advisor to dozens of aspiring distillers for more than two decades, and as he moves on from full-time work at DEVINE to consulting, is now poised to influence many more. We spoke to him about the past, present and future of small-batch distilling.

ADC: You were literally among the first few small-batch distillers in B.C., and within Canada. What first got you interested in distilling?

photo credit DEVINE Winery & Distillery

KW: Like a lot of brewers and winemakers, you’re sort of halfway there to distilling. I trained in enology and viticulture in California and I had a vineyard and winery there. I came to Canada early 2000s and eventually started Winchester Cellars across the road from DEVINE. I’m always looking for something new and innovative to do, and at that time, nobody was distilling. I was the first on the island. I studied distilling in Michigan, and did a brief internship at Bruichladdich. That really inspired me to get into it.

A couple of things happened, a couple of touchstones. Excise lowered the bond for distilleries from $500k to $5k. When I discovered that, that was a huge hurdle down for someone considering a craft distillery. So I took the leap in 2006 and started Winchester Spirits. I went through the whole start-up process. I learned everything the hard way. That was way before we even had a B.C. craft spirits designation. The licensing at that time wasn’t really onerous. I was on ALR [Agricultural Land Reserve] land and I think I was the first B.C. distillery to be on ALR land.

I bought my original still from Germany: a wood-fired Holstein, and it’s still at Victoria Distillers, though it’s more of a ‘show’ still now. I still go visit it.

ADC: What are some of the most common inquiries you get from aspiring distillers?

KW: Usually the first question is about the still. And I say, ‘Pump the brakes: before you think about the still you have to have a location, and deal with your local municipality. Make friends with them. Tell them what you’re planning to do. Get all your ducks in a row, in far as building inspection and fire … practical things like dealing with waste water: can you put it down the drain or will you have to hold it in a tank and dispose of it somewhere? Then you get to the fun stuff, like what kind of still to buy, and how big.

I enjoy a still that’s completely manual, because my theory is that every run is unique. You have to be there, paying attention. It’s like driving stick instead of automatic. A lot of the new stills have touch pads and so on, and that’s not my style. I compare it to organic farming, which forces you to pay more attention to the little things, rather than just using pesticides and so on.

Sensory evaluation is something I lecture new distillers about. That’s something I learned in wine making, is good fermentation practices. I took a course from Dr. Ann Noble at [University of California] Davis, who developed the whole science of sensory evaluation and created the aroma wheel that people still use today. That was very influential for me. It’s something you can learn from any number of courses and experts out there, and you need to practice and practice. It comes with experience.

Going back to your mash, you can tell a lot from the taste and smell about what will end up as your whisky. Newer distillers focus on the still, but the mash is so important.

ADC: What about products: it seems like you’ve made everything, from gin and whisky to liqueurs and rum. What should a distillery start with?

KW: When I started, and there were 5-6 of us in BC, everyone was making vodka except me. I’d never liked vodka particularly, though I can appreciate it. I jumped to gin. I thought it was must more interesting, more of a challenge to a distiller. It had a history I liked, too. I like that about whisky and rum, as well. Coming from training at Bruichladdich I really wanted to make a single malt, but using local ingredients. That was always to me the holy grail.

We launched Victoria Gin in 2007, the first craft gin in Canada, and it was a big success even at $50 a bottle. The Empress Hotel took it on, and that was huge for us. We didn’t even have the B.C. craft designation at the time.

I brought in a business partner, ordered stills and had several months using a test still to play with the botanicals. I still find that fascinating, and to this day I still enjoy that process of developing a new product.

About 18 months into it I started getting restless and my business partner bought me out. I went back to wine making and consulting, and I found myself more and more involved with what DEVINE was doing. When the distilling rules changes in 2013, I started looking for a still, with an eye to starting my own distillery. I stumbled on the still I call Brunhilde up in Cowichan in a barn and brought it down to Saanich on the spot. The owners of DEVINE offered to license it at their premises, and I rebuilt the still, and updated the heating element. It’s still going. It’s a real workhorse.

DEVINE Ancient Grains won CASC Best in Class in the 2019 and 2020

We were on a vineyard, so we made gin from grapes. We also had really great fruit, so we tried everything: a Calvados-style apple brandy, pear brandy, slivovitz [plum brand]. We tried an oak-aged gin, which was a first. We made a genever, a big success because hardly anybody makes it. The same is true of the Ancient Grains whisky. I think some of the more successful distillers are making products nobody else is making.

ADC: What do you think are the key elements to a successful distillery?

KW: Quality, price and story. Those are the three cornerstones of a successful distillery. Story is almost the most important of those; you have to have something unique.

There are practical things. You need somebody who can drive a forklift and fix tanks and hoses. If you’re a brewer, you already know those things.

The compliance part is tough. The record-keeping is very rigorous. I learned at Victoria Gin, so by the time I got to DEVINE I had a good system. For any start-up, be really rigorous with the records you keep. Make a friend of the excise inspector.

Then there’s the whole side of selling: sales tracking, bookkeeping, administration.

It’s ideal, as a distillery, to have all those people and talents on your team.

ADC: What’s the potential for small-batch distilling to stimulate local agriculture, as it does in B.C.?

KW: I think it’s tremendous. Under the craft rules we have to use BC. ingredients to be craft [from B.C.], and people are starting to take it a step further. At DEVINE we started growing our own grain. That makes it even more interesting to me, you can start spinning the terroir story. In the Okanagan they are really blessed with local agricultural materials, too. They could have defined B.C. craft without a local products requirement, but I’m glad they didn’t. We also have to ferment and mash on site, so distillers who want to start with NGS [neutral grain spirit] can’t benefit from the craft designation and benefits.

I’ve spoken with other distillers who envy us in B.C. ... it’s been such a boon here to the industry in B.C. to have this designation. It makes sense for agriculture. The local farmers in Saanich loved us: they’d call up and say they have 2,000 lbs of local strawberries or whatever, and nine times out of 10 I’d say sure. Fruit has to be perfect to sell, and I was happy to take the other stuff – too small, or misshapen, but perfect for my purposes.

ADC: Are small-batch local spirits the next wave of eating and shopping local?

KW: I’m a big fan of local. People think the B.C. market is saturated with distilleries with 70-some, but I did some research and before Prohibition there were more than 300 distilleries in Ontario, for instance. Most Canadian distilleries are pretty small, and I see continued growth; I don’t know what the maximum number could be: 100, 200? COVID definitely slammed the breaks on a lot of things, but with time things will start to get back to normal.

There’s potential in an itinerary where you can sew five or 10 distilleries all together in a day trip, like the Island Spirit Path, because you’ve given somebody a map they can follow. Back when I had Winchester Cellars in Saanich there were four wineries on Saanich Road, and we came up with a brochure about these family-owned wineries. It was a day excursion from downtown Victoria and that helped raise people’s awareness: it was very successful.

I live in Sidney, B.C., where there’s a big push to shop local. I did all my Christmas shopping here, and it’s great. You get to meet people who make things. Local shopkeepers are grateful and go the extra mile. I think spirits is the same: you see people again and again, they love to talk and hear stories, to see the still and see all the barrels, to ask questions. Make buying local an experience.

ADC: I’m sure you’ve seen some people going into distilling as a passion, and others approaching it as a business. What do you think is the future of small distilleries?

KW: We’re starting to see in the States some of the older craft distilleries being snapped up. I see both types: I see the person who wants to have a second career, do something more personal or artistic, and create that story. I call them ‘garagistes;’ they start small and hope to build something, even build their own stills, like Sons of Vancouver did. They can be very successful on a small scale.

I joke about the fact that I’ve gotten my fair share of calls, like, “I’ve just sold my dental practice and I want to make vodka. What do I do?” There is no formula, no easy way. Some come from previous business experience, they have an actual plan, and they want to have another successful business. Some distilleries here might eventually be acquired by big brands, but I don’t think if you start a distillery that should necessarily be your goal.

ADC: Can you think of anybody in B.C. who you’ve advised or influenced?

KW: I sold Jason [MacIsaac] at Sheringham Distillery my old still, as his test still. He was working as a chef, and he would pay me with food. One time he brought me a big jar of duck confit! He really knew how to do it. We’d sit at the table at Niagara Grocery in Victoria and talk distilling. He brought me his first bottles to taste... I believe I told him to find local ingredients that could be part of his story. And of course they’ve been very successful with their Seaside Gin, incorporating seaweed.

I’ve probably had two dozen would-be or new distillers in to see me, kicking the tires. I tell them to show up during a [distilling] run, and we can talk about anything they like. There are so many details when you’re starting up: fire, liquor licensing, the LDB [the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch], dealing with your local building inspector. People come with a lot of questions; they know what to ask. I’ll give them an hour or two of my time. I’ve been too busy up to now to consult, but at this point it’s a good thing.

I’ll always have a connection with DEVINE, and I’d love to keep a hand in consulting here on the Island or anywhere around the Lower Mainland.