Two Quebecers on the Canadian West Coast

Greetings dear friends of the distillery.

Before diving into our latest news, I have a few updates on our process with the CPTAQ. We received the date for our public hearing, which will take place on February 1, 2023. As this is a very formal process, we must provide a list of people who would like to attend the session. Afterward, interested parties will receive a formal notice of convocation.

Until then, we are breathing, and with the exceptional support of our community, we will overcome this obstacle!

Agriculture

Good news is coming one after another on this front! We have received our organic pre-certification following the inspection by Ecocert Canada. Moreover, we are quite proud to have passed the inspection with flying colours! Now, we are certain that our first harvest of barley and rye will obtain organic certification.

As for Gautier, our farm manager, he has been busy with numerous drainage works on the land. Gautier's hard work will improve the yield of certain sections of the land that regularly flooded throughout the year, in addition to preventing some unfortunate situations.

We have also finished sowing fall rye over more than 20 hectares. As for the rye that has grown more than 10cm, it will go dormant under the snow and continue to grow in the spring. This means it will have a head start over the barley. Thus, we will be able to align the time needed to harvest both types of grain.

On the machinery side, we welcomed a new tool to our agricultural arsenal, a Valmar 455 seeder. Since this seeder is mounted directly on the rototiller, we can till the land and sow at the same time. Thanks to this winning combination, we save on diesel while also reducing soil compaction.

La Distillerie des Cantons de l'Est in British Columbia

With Jean-François, the master distiller, we were in British Columbia during the week of October 24th, combining business with pleasure on a business trip.

We participated in the very first pan-Canadian Artisan Distillers Canada conference.

Then, we flew to Vancouver Island to visit the two manufacturers on the shortlist of our still makers: Specifics Mechanical Systems and Revival Stillworks. During these visits, we toured their facilities, reviewed the quotes, and discussed automation processes. We will have updated quotes by the end of November. This is the final step before making our choice.

Obviously, we took the opportunity to visit local distilleries, especially since several of them use equipment from our manufacturers!

First, we visited the Macaloney Caledonian Island Distillery facilities. We were warmly welcomed by the legendary Graeme Macaloney himself!

It was a pleasant meeting that allowed us to discuss his business model and his barrel program, inspired by the STR method. The tour concluded with a tasting of his products!

Then, we were welcomed at Victoria Distillers. Cocktail creators rave about their Empress Gin, with its blue color! Their site impressed us with its beauty. Take a look at their website to get a glimpse. As the bon vivants we are, we also tested their products!

Then, the next day, our last visit of the trip took place at Driftwood distillery. We received a VIP welcome from their master distiller, who created a Gin with citrus aromas. I was amazed by the result! I learned that he puts oranges and grapefruits directly into his gin basket. I imagine he must be the best customer at the local fruit stand!

We also saw the two barrel storage methods we are studying for our cellars: i.e., with a rack system and stacked on top of each other.

We returned to Montreal on a beautiful Friday, very satisfied with this visit!

Construction

Since we were flying across the country, JF and I took advantage of his video game-ready laptop to play around with the 3D Sketchup software.

The distillery building needs an F1 certification, which applies to hazardous environments. This means we cannot also have our offices or our tasting room there. We had to revise the design of the distillation space. With the help of the architects, we will therefore have an adjacent building to accommodate the boutique and tastings.

Here is a first version of our vision for this project, where the stills face the distillery's lands.

- Martin