(Photo credit: Okanagan Spirits)

By Pete McIntyre

Artisan Distillery of Year

Golden recognition for Okanagan craft distillery

Jan 14, 2022 | 11:00 AM

Glasses are being raised to celebrate an Okanagan craft distillery.

Okanagan Spirits has won the award for Artisan Distillery of the Year at the prestigious 2022 Canadian Whisky Awards.

(Photo credit: Okanagan Spirits Distilery)

Okanagan Spirits also won gold for its Bourbon-Style Whisky, its Black Laird cask-strength Single-Malt Whisky, and its cask-strength Bourbon-Style Whisky.

The family-owned business in Vernon and Kelowna also captured silver medals for its Laird of Fintry Single-Malt and its Blue Laird of Fintry Single-Malt Whiskies.

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The company said it has long prided itself as being Western Canada’s pioneer of authentic craft spirits, and over the last two decades has won numerous international awards. This latest round of “Golden” recognition for their whisky speaks to their continued dedication to farm-to-flask spirits and in particular their commitment to an authentically local, terroir-driven whisky program.

“This has truly lifted our spirits,” said Okanagan Spirits CEO Tyler Dyck. “To be honoured by Canada’s premier whisky competition and to be recognized with so many of the top awards across so many whisky categories is a real tribute to our distilling team, to my family, and to the local farmers growing the grains that have earned a place for our whisky on the national and international stage.”

The journey to the top of Canada’s whisky podium started almost two decades ago when this B.C. distillery kicked off the craft movement in Western Canada. Since those early days, the distillery has become a leader in B.C.’s craft distillery movement: they not only have two Okanagan Valley craft distilleries, but also lead the charge for modernizing craft liquor production policy in B.C. and Canada.

CEO Tyler Dyck also heads up the Craft Distiller’s Guild of B.C. and the Canadian Craft Distillers Alliance, and is leading the quest for sensible policy reform.

“The reforms we continue to fight for are aimed at ensuring authenticity in traditional production techniques and at staying intimately linked to the local ‘terroir,’ using only local agricultural products in the creation of our spirits, which has clearly been rewarded tonight with the recognition as Artisan Distillery of the Year,” said Dyck.

Dyck and his family believe that sourcing local grains and fruit, from field to bottle, is the cornerstone of true craft distillation, and say their spirits capture the subtleties of the Okanagan Valley’s fields and orchards; the flavour profile of their whiskies is unique and specific to their region.

The Dyck family has lived in the Okanagan Valley for over four generations and takes pride in supporting farmers and orchardists around the valley. By the end of the awards night, Western Canada’s pioneer of craft distilling went on to capture three gold medals, two silver, and one bronze, as well as the highest honour for craft distilleries: Artisan Distillery of the Year.

Okanagan Spirits has won dozens of awards at the World Spirit Awards in Europe since 2005; this is the first year Okanagan Spirits has entered this national competition.

“To represent our local region on the Canadian stage, and to come away with so many medals is fantastic,” said Okanagan Spirits President and family patriarch, Tony Dyck. “Our entire team is so honoured to be in the company of some of the best distillers from across Canada, as well as the commercial, multinational companies. This is going to take some time to sink in. I’m so proud.”