Posted on November 13, 2024 by Out Of Hand -
Whisky, Gin and Spirits from the Heart of Wine Country
Dubh Glas (dugh-luhs) in Gaelic means “from the dark water” and is reflective of the source water used in the making of our feature spirits. It is also reflective of Grant Stevely, the artisan distiller, who has shared the name in his family for generations. Dubh Glas Distillery and Grant Stevely have been featured in numerous books and articles featuring distilling, gin and whisky. He has won a gold medal in the Canadian Artisan Spirits competition for seven consecutive years for his signature New Western Dry Gin and his Single Malt Whisky. In 2023 he was awarded gold at the Canadian Whisky awards for his single malt whisky. He continues to increase his quality while being a mentor to his distilling peers.
Posted on November 13, 2024 by Out Of Hand -
I am Linda Berkland, owner of La Casa Bianca Winery in Oliver BC. My artistry is crafting wine out of what we grow on our biodynamic farm. My philosophy in life is ‘Do What You Can With What You Have’! Although our vineyard/orchard is only 5 acres, we have mature Black Walnut, English Walnut, Fruit Trees as well as a lovely selection of red and white Grape Varietals.
It’s important for me to keep our wines as natural as possible, so we don’t use any harmful sprays or chemicals on the farm and minimal intervention in the winemaking process. I challenge myself with coming up with new and unique wines and flavours – hence the reason we are known as – ‘Home of Unique Wines’. As we are a family winery, I pride myself in including our family in every aspect of the business. The winery is named after our daughter Bianca – a jazz soul musician, our first wine was named after our son Nicholas ‘St Nick’, our Rose’ is named after our granddaughter ‘Aurora’ – with a percentage going to her education fund. After my Olympian Speedskater Dad, Gramps died at the beginning of Covid, we made a Red Blend in his memory. It’s called ‘The Norseman’, as this is what he was named when he did his Olympics in Norway in 1952. I believe whatever art or skill you have, that you need to pass it on to others, so they can also benefit in one way or the other.
When visitors, customers come to our winery, I enjoy showing them our vintage equipment we started with, how I make dandelion wine out of the dandelions (after the bees have pollinated them). I share the bounty of our crops with our customers, so if they not only come for a unique wine tasting experience, but they sit amongst the cherry, apricot, plum trees in our Picnic Area, while tasting the cherry, apricot, plum wine. They are served our complementary walnuts from our trees during tasting while trying our award winning Black Walnut Wine. It is awesome to see people enjoy what you make (wine) and for your customers to see that buying their own piece of land and doing something creative with it, is actually more within their reach then they thought it was |
Posted on November 13, 2024 by Out Of Hand -
| Trained as engineers, father-son duo Stephen and Jeremy Schacht used their knowledge of science and traditional distilling techniques to create a hand crafted distillery to make hand crafted spirits.
Ampersand Distilling Co. was born out of Jeremy & Jessi’s love of craft cocktails, and Jeremy & Stephen’s engineering backgrounds. Bringing together Jeremy’s degree in chemical engineering and Stephen’s extensive engineering background, the distillery was an innovative way to combine their passions. |
Posted on November 15, 2021 by Out Of Hand -
Back in 2015, husband and wife team, Quinn and Michela, started a small soda company called Rootside producing a line of soda syrups made with fresh and whole ingredients. After diving into the wonderful world of botanical research through Rootside, they developed a love-affair with Vermouth and all things apéritif. They spent the next 2.5 years deep-diving into botanicals, recipe development and mead making, and their flagship Rosso Vermouth was launched in July 2019. In 2020, their Rosso Vermouth won Gold at the San Francisco World Spirit Awards, and in 2021, their Rosso Vermouth, Dry Vermouth and Kina-Rouge all took home the coveted Double-Gold Award. Since then, they’ve added a third style of Vermouth (Bianco) to their flagship as well as a number of seasonal aperitifs including Kina-Salal, Bitter Red, and Limoncello. In 2023 they won World’s Best Dry Vermouth and World’s Best Semi-Sweet Vermouth for their Dry and Rosso Vermouths, respectively, at the World Vermouth Awards in London, UK.
Posted on March 16, 2020 by Out Of Hand -
Vancouver Island’s Only Dedicated Sparkling Wine House! Located in North Saanich on the same latitude as Champagne, France, we have a micro-vineyard where we do all the farming and wine making ourselves. We focus on making low intervention wines that are made in the Traditional Champagne Method.
Posted on October 22, 2019 by Out Of Hand -
Located on Powell Street in East Vancouver’s port district, Odd Society is dedicated to combining Old World distilling traditions with New World ingredients and ingenuity to create a family of spirits including award winning whiskies, innovative gins and liqueurs.
Posted on October 7, 2019 by Out Of Hand -
As a successful chef, Jason MacIsaac experienced the importance of strong ties with local producers in order to obtain the best quality ingredients and outcome. We believe a large part of sustainability is keeping a local footprint.
We use time-honoured distilling methods and B.C. grown grains to achieve our sustainable and traditional approach to the production of our spirits. Our small batch hand-crafted spirits are all made with 100% B.C. agricultural products. We source local ingredients from Vancouver Island whenever possible. All our products are mashed, fermented and distilled at our distillery. We are proudly committed to localism, quality & sustainability.
Posted on September 26, 2018 by Out Of Hand -
Hornby Island Estate Winery was founded in 1999, the dream of John Grayson and Joan Costello. Hornby Island is part of the Wine Islands region – the perfect climate for growing fruits and berries. Now over two decades old, the orchard produces exquisite French and English cider apples. While the other fruits and berries are sourced from nearby local farmers. All wine making happens right on site where each and every bottle is hand-crafted.
Posted on September 25, 2018 by Out Of Hand -
Welcome to wines from the heart of Vancouver Island’s wine country, the picturesque Cowichan Valley. Our unique micro climate produces some of the finest wines found in BC and Canada. We invite you to browse through our current selection and feel free to inquire about upcoming releases.
