Yaletown Brewing Company, and it’s distilling arm, Yaletown Distillers, have launched their first small batch single malt whisky. But act fast if you’re interested, there are only 300 bottles for sale!
The Yaletown Distilling Company opened its doors to the public on December 5th, 2013 with Master Distiller Tariq Khan at the helm, bringing with him 10 years of brewing experience internationally. Originally only producing vodka and gin, the distillers have been waiting three years to release their Canadian whisky. This small batch whisky is produced in french oak barrels and uses BC 2 row pale malt as the foundation.
Overall the whisky has aged well. Taking on some of the char from the fresh barrels and bringing in some notes of vanilla, melon and smoke. It’s a good start to a whisky that is sure to evolve as time goes on. They’ve even saved some to continue aging, which will likely take on more of the barrel characteristics in the process.
This new release has Yaletown following other local brewers and distillers into the Canadian whisky foray. Earlier releases have included Central City’s Lohan McKinnon single malt, Odd Society’s single malt, Pemberton Valley single malt, Shelter Point and Okanagan Spirits. There’s no question this is a growing category as there are a number of other distillers following suit and it’s just a matter of time before BC has a firm reputation for producing single malt whisky in Canada.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. BC has a similar temperate climate and oceanfront soil as Scotland and we produce world class grain and malt for our burgeoning craft beer industry. Our coastline even has ‘hidden’ peat bogs, allowing us to look to the long term in creating some exceptional peated whiskies.
Only 300 bottles of the Yaletown Whisky is available at $64 a bottle. If you’re interested, you can pick up a bottle at the bottle shop in Yaletown, and likely in some private stores in the near future like Legacy Liquor.
Ale/Sessions 