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First Alberta-made single malt whisky launched

Turner Valley’s Eau Claire Distillery marked an Alberta first with much fanfare last week.
Master distiller Caitlin Quinn holds up a glass of Eau Claire Distillery’ s new single malt “field-to-bottle” whisky at a special event on Dec. 8.
Master distiller Caitlin Quinn holds up a glass of Eau Claire Distillery’ s new single malt “field-to-bottle” whisky at a special event on Dec. 8.

Turner Valley’s Eau Claire Distillery marked an Alberta first with much fanfare last week.

With a mini-parade of horse-drawn wagons and a bagpiper leading the way, the distillery unveiled the first-ever single malt whisky produced in Alberta on Friday.

Eau Claire owner David Farran said it’s a major milestone both for the business and for the province’s nascent small distilling industry.

He said it’s the re-creation of an industry and it’s a natural industry for Alberta.

“We had a dream to build an industry in a place that is a perfect place for distilleries,” said Farran. “We in Alberta are the greatest producers of both malt and rye in the world. We ship that barley to Scotland so that they can make Scotch. It’s time that we made some of those products here at home.”

Farran’s quite proud of what the distillery was able to create with its first batch.

“I love it, obviously I’m biased, but I’m really proud of it,” he said. “I think we have achieved something at three years that would be equivalent to a much older appellation.”

Farran said some of the whisky has been held back to age for five and 10 years for later release.

He plans to release a special edition rye whisky next year that was produced entirely using horsepower.

In its three short years, Eau Claire has won top international awards against some of the biggest names in the industry.

Eau Claire products are available across Alberta, as well as in several locations in the U.S. in New York, Chicago and Florida.

“We hope to continue to grow those markets,” said Farran.

He said the distillery uses a farm-to-glass process. Eau Claire has become a certified farm distillery, something he said is akin to being an estate winery.

“It distinguishes itself in that it truly is farm-to-glass,” said Farran.

“It means that we are linked directly to the farm community, we know the grain that it’s coming from and we can follow that terroir all the through.”

Terroir is a combined effect that factors like soil, geography and climate can have on agricultural products, such as in wine and coffee.

Farran said he believes he was able to capture the terroir of Alberta’s unique growing conditions and climate in the product.

“Every year will be slightly different because the climate will be different, the crop will be different and we won’t be aiming for uniformity, we’ll be aiming for taste and flavour,” he said.

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