Housed in their sophisticated tasting room on Bernard Avenue in Kelowna, Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery just celebrated its first anniversary at the new location. It provided a wonderful locale for their sold out Caviar and Vodka tasting during the Fall Wine Festival. The focus of this casual but classy facility is education of consumers, while providing them with an exposure to an expanded range of fine spirits.
Rodney Goodchild, Director of Marketing and Operations, is proud to showcase the distillery’s Essential Collection comprised of gin, whisky and vodka. They provide excellent value, hand-crafted spirits for either the home or professional bar. Plus, they are part of the distillery’s 3R program. These bottles can be returned to either the Vernon or Kelowna location and the bearer will receive a $4 discount on their next purchase.
Special events for the winter will kick off with a Christmas Cocktail Night on December 13 – so reserve now! (It is also a great opportunity to pick up a Christmas gift basket.) In January the distillery will host a Coffee and Warm Drinks Night in conjunction with the Bean Scene, while February will see a Valentine’s Day event featuring oysters and cocktails.
Development of a single malt whisky is a long-term project which is expected to come to the market in 2013. Small casks of whisky have been quietly aging, and taste testing indicates the whisky is reaching a lovely maturity. This first offering will be very limited, so be sure to keep an eye on the distillery’s website www.okanaganspirits.com to get in on the action.
Okanagan Spirits is particularly renowned for its Eaux de Vie and Liqueurs, utilizing fruit from the valley’s orchards. The Poire Williams has a fabulous pear nose and flavour, the Raspberry shows lovely, clean fruit, while the Kirsch Virginiana’s choke-cherry goes very well with hot chocolate. For something really different, try the Gewürztraminer Grappa – made from Gray Monk’s grape skins!
~ Allison Fader