They’re kind of the rebels of alcohol, Kelly Ann Woods says.
Before prohibition, Canada had something like 200 distilleries. Today it has 14.
During the alcohol-consumption ban, the government handed over the manufacturing of alcohol to a few big names, Woods said. While citizens couldn’t drink the stuff, alcohol was needed for industrial uses.
Years later, those large companies became the producers of spirits. And for decades this factor and outdated regulations made it next to impossible for smaller distilleries to break into the field.
Now, much as with craft brewing, that’s changing, Woods says. Policies are being updated and people are starting to question what spirits are in their mixed drinks. It’s a move toward localization, with drinkers gaining knowledge about the craft, Woods says.
The resurgence has paved the way for Gillespie's Fine Spirits — a Squamish-based distillery set to open on Canada Day, July 1.
“It has been a long time coming,” Woods says, as she stands inside the warehouse surrounded by shiny equipment and a swirl of construction.
The distillery is a dream come true for Woods and her partner John McLellan. McLellan’s interest in distilling runs back to his youth in Scotland. His parents would pack the kids onto a sailing boat and drift from harbour to harbour visiting Scotch distilleries.
Woods has a background in mixology. She is the bar manager of La Mezcaleria, a Mexican restaurant on Commercial Drive in Vancouver that specializes in small-batch mescal, tequila and cocktails from different regions of Mexico. The couple also took a distillery course at the Artisan Craft-Distilling Institute in Washington.
“I am a bit of a booze witch,” Woods jokes.
At their distillery on Progress Way, McLellan is making a lot of equipment himself, such as the still. The distillery will focus on local ingredients to create its gins and vodkas. Woods is aiming to bottle some Lemoncello — a lemon liqueur that is mainly produced in southern Italy. She also wants to make a spirit called Aphro, which will be vodka infused with chili and chocolate flavours.
“Our projections for the first year is about 1,000 cases,” McLellan said. “But really we have no idea.”
Whiskey will be added to the list of spirits, but the first batch won’t be ready until after three years. The distillery will have a tasting room and offer tours once it’s open.
“We want to be an attraction for people to pull off the highway,” Woods said.
Woods and McLellan live in Vancouver, but are looking to move to Squamish once the business is up and running.
“I want to be somewhere that inspires me,” Woods says, pointing up at the Tantalus Range from the building’s open warehouse door.
