Victoria Caledonian Distillery’s single malt spirit was named Best Canadian New Make in this year’s World Whiskies Awards. The local distillery also claimed a bronze medal for its Macaloney’s Twa Cask Islay blended Scotch.
This Scottish influenced distillery uses traditional distillation techniques, Scottish copper potstills, and B.C. grown barley to make surprising smooth and remarkably fruity single malt ‘new make’ and whisky.
“It’s a truly amazing accomplishment for our young distillery which is just 2.5 years old. There are some really fantastic distilleries with decades of experience who regularly compete for these awards, which is a testament to the world class expertise that we’ve assembled plus our focus on quality,” said Graeme Macaloney, president and whisky-maker. “We’ve got some fantastic spirits in maturation right now and I think Canadians will be blown away with the whiskies we’ll be releasing in six months time.”
READ ALSO: Greater Victoria’s newest brewery and distillery, Caledonian, opens (2016)
The distillery doesn’t sell the ‘new make’ itself (unless customers buy a cask), but does sell its maturing single malt spirit, the Mac Na Braiche that uses ‘new make’ as a foundation and is matured in red wine casks. This ‘Mac’ has recently claimed a number of accolades itself including a Gold award from the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition, and a 91 point score from the Dram Association.
The distillery is also the first in Canada to peat-smoke its barley at the distillery, leading to the first ‘Canadian’ peated whisky using local ingredients. It also set a Canadian record surpassing $500,000 crowdfunding target, the first ever distillery crowdfunding in Canada.
The Victoria Caledonian Distillery & Twa Dogs Brewery offers ‘kilted’ guided tours and tutored tastings. Its whiskies & beers include ‘Victoria Caledonian’ Canadian peated and un-peated single malts and pot still whiskies, ‘Macaloney’s Twa Cask’ Scotch malt whiskies, and BC Beer Awards winning ‘Twa Dogs’ craft beers.
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