Celebrating Canadian beers, wines and spirits on Canada Day

A recent visit to Canada’s glorious British Columbian coast gave <i>db</i> the chance to investigate Canada’s craft beers, spirit and wines scene – particularly appropriate for Canada Day.

Gin is big on Canada’s west coast – it is very much in evidence in bars and restaurants across the state of British Columbia.

Bar Oso, a new Spanish tapas bar that opened in the ski mecca of Whistler Village in the autumn has an enviable range of local gins, which successfully showcase British Columbia’s unique coastal landscape.

One of the newest is Phillips Stump Gin Coastal Forest – a heady mix of foraged coastal botanicals including cascade hops, grand fir and bay laurel. Served in a Burgundy bowl glass with Philips own dry tonic and garnished with kelp, the serve did help bring out its salty, pine-tinged tang.

Getting down with the local – G&T, British Columbia style

Getting the low-down on a selection of British Columbia’s craft gins

Others on the menu at Bar Osoa include Sheringham Seaside gin, an organic wheat gin which uses kelp as a botanical, Victoria gin, a BC cucumber gin, and two UK gins – Brockmans, an intense and fruity gin served with a sweetened tonic, as well as Phillips Philosopher’s Brew Tonic and Scotland’s The Botanist.

Behind Main Street in Tofino, looking over the Clayoquot Sound towards Meare’s Island

But it wasn’t only the G&Ts that impressed db, the craft beer scene in BC is – as everywhere else – expanding at a rate of knots. One of the highlights is the Tofino Brewing Company, a recently set up brewery in the ‘industrial’ area on the outskirts of the remote town. Set on a peninsular among the wild and rugged landscape of Vancouver Island’s remote Pacific Rim forests, Tofino is renown for its waves, surfer vibe, fantastic seafood, and nowadays, its interesting beers, which are available to sample across town.

Sunset over the Pacific at Chesterman Beach, by the The Wickaninnish Inn, 5km outside Tofino

The Tofino Brewing Company’s kelp stout and Blond Ale

The company has a small selection of beers, ranging from a bright copper Tuff Session Ale, a lightly hopped earthy Blonde Ale and the Kelp Stout, which contains kelp from the local shores – rich, robust deliciously chocolatey and with a saline tang. It’s only a shame we didn’t get to sample the spruce pine lager (the peninsular is home to incredible first-growth forests that resemble the forest moons of Endor, with Tofino set only a stone’s throw away from the Pacific Rim National Park, and the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Park on Meares Island).

From the far west of Vancouver Island to the east coast close to the capital, Victoria, lies the Saanich peninsular, the wine-producing area of the island. This is where the majority of the wineries in the area are located, and tourists are ferried between a number to them, to soak up the local produce. One is de Vine Vineyards, whose winery close to Vancouver Island’s capital, Victoria, overlooks Washington State in the USA and Mount Baker (just about visible above the cloud).

The region’s cool climate benefits from moisture from the sea (in summer it averages 20-30 degrees, compared to BC’s main wine-growing area, Okanagan, which boast more desert-like conditions), according to director of operations and sales, Jennifer McKimmie (below), who showed us around, and as such is primarily planted with white varieties. De Vines claims it has the largest planting of Gruner Veltliner vines in Western Canada, and it recently boosted its white range planting Marechal Foch vines, whose early ripening grapes are particularly suitable for the the climate. In addition, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are bought in from local estates.

Jennifer McKimmie, director of operations & Sales at de Vine Vineyards on the Saanich Peninsula

As well as selling the wines into the domestic market, the company uses them as a base for their new spirit business, which was set up by winemaker and distiller Ken Winchester, who previously worked as a distiller at Benroamac. Winchester oversees production of the small but active pot still, which is known as Brunehilde. The company currently produces ten spirits including a strawberry vodka made from strawberry wine that uses only the heart of the run, and then macerates the spirit with fresh strawberries before being filtered.

Ken Winchester of de Vine Vineyards on Vancouver Island’s Saanich Peninsular with Brunehilde

De Vine Vineyards produces three gins, the complex Dutch-style Genever, made from floor malted grain to a 17^th century recipe, which contains more than 20 botanicals including mugwort and blessed thistle. Its Vin Gin however is made from its own wine and designed to be a more modern take on the drink, with a blend of more ‘regular’ botanical, citrus, spruce tips, lavender and spice. The final brew is New Tom, a barrel-aged version of the Vin Gin, which picks up the charred and toasted characteristics of the once-used bourbon barrels it is finished in, to give an illusion of sweetness, operations director Jennifer McKimmie explained.

De Vine Wines’ gin range

A scant half hour drive from De Vine Vineyards lies Church & State winery, which comprises 10 acres on a 20 acre estate, planted with Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir on predominantly clay limestone soils. The winery opened twelve years ago, and now produces around 860 – 900 cases of each wine a year. It has started to graft muscat onto its Pinot Noir and is set to launch a sparkling muscat in the the next three years.

The winery, which also owns around 140 acres in South Okanagan, has recently launched new labels for its irreverent Lost Inhibitions range, which is available in most of Canada’s stakes and in the USA. It aims to take the stuffiness of out wine and appeal to the millennial generation…

Saanich is also home to apple orchards, and our final stop was at Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse, where owner Kristen Needham took inspiration from her upbringing in Wales to plant 1,000 bittersweet English apple varieties, along with an orchard of North American heritage apples – around 60 different varieties in total. Although she admits the North American palate has taken some time to adjust to the more robust, tannic English style cider, it has offered the cider house a point of difference and the chance to explore different styles of cider, making them a pioneer in the renaissance of the Canadian craft cider industry, having been open for nine years.

“It is interested to see how much the industry has changed in a short time. We’re pleased to have the English bittersweet varieties to make cider from, as it puts us in a unique position in the industry,” Needham told db. “Most of the new entrants arrived only last year and are exploring, but they have backing from the beer industry.”

The craft cider industry in Canada is starling to coalese with smaller producers calling to develop standards that will strengthen the bond between producers and orchards in the consumers’ mind, and ensure more truthful labelling, she explained, as there is an increasing sense of frustration that big business is taking over ‘craft’.

The cafe and tasting room at Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse

Last month saw the Canada tasting in London hosted by the Canadian High Commission – the first time it has run tastings on consecutive years – which saw 34 producers (28 wineries, 3 distilleries and 3 ice cider producers) attend. Exports to the UK have increased 41% in the last two years, according to trade commissioner of Canadian Wine, Beer & Spirits, Janet Dorozynski, and they are keen to build their position in the UK.