A new distillery and brewery opens today in Saanich where the owner hopes to attract not only locals but a new tourism option with tastings and tours led by guides in kilts.
Victoria Caledonian Distillery and Brewery founder Graeme Macaloney said tours will allow visitors to “touch, taste and smell” the whiskies and brews.
There will also be historical and distilling technology exhibits in the 17,000-square-foot building at 761 Enterprise Cres.
Macaloney visited Scotland, Ireland and Kentucky for inspiration from the best tours and presentations. John Hamilton, a former vice president with WestJet Vacations, has joined Caledonia as its vice-president of tourism and guest services.
The facility is large enough to accommodate bus tours, a lucrative slice of the tourism industry that Macaloney hopes to attract.
Other southern Vancouver Island wineries, cideries and distilleries have been offering tours, and adding another to the mix is a good thing, said tourism consultant Frank Bourree.
“If you start to get a critical mass of this kind of culinary wine, beer and spirits happening in this region, it really will attract tourists,” said Bourree.
“The population here is getting younger and these people are increasingly keen on spirits.”
During a visit, it’s important to “put on a bit of a show,” and make the presentation “hip and modern,” where patrons can sit down and enjoy themselves and also tour the site, Bourree said.
“There’s definitely a tourist product there and it is becoming a part of our culture now on Southern Vancouver Island.”
Caledonia invites customers to design their own premium single-malt whisky, choosing from five new-make whisky spirits, and from 10 types of oak casks. New-make refers to spirits just off the still.
This whisky will be produced after only three years in the cask, a method led by Jim Swan, who is renowned for this expertise in whisky maturation.
Macaloney travelled to Portugal, Spain and Kentucky with Swan “to get the best wood that money can buy.”
“Wood makes the whisky,” Macaloney said.
Customers put down a $1,750 deposit for a 30-litre cask and, three years later, pay $622 when the whisky is ready.
Normally, whisky is aged eight to 12 years, Macaloney said.
Caledonia sells its own whisky as well, at $62.99 per 750 millilitres. Among the Heather is lightly sherried and Prince Dougal’s Dram is lightly peated.
The first shipments of Caledonia’s Twa Dogs Beer, a pale ale, were sent out Monday to distributors on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver, said Macaloney.
A pale pilsner, robust porter, saison and an India pale ale are also being produced under the eye of brewmaster Dean McLeod.
They will be sold in government and private liquor stores and in pubs, he said.
At Caledonia’s Enterprise liquor store, growlers of draft beer are $12 for 64 ounces or $8 for 32 ounces.
Six-packs of 355-millilitre beers are for sale from $11.79 to $12.29.
Caledonian was created with investments from 250 investors across the country, plus $2.37 million in funding through the federal Agriculture Department’s Agri-Innovation Program that fosters innovation in new products and helps speed the commercialization of new products.
