A spirited craft: BC artisanal distilleries rack up national awards
Ampersand Distillery’s green-walnut Nocino! wins big at Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition
Ampersand Distilling Co.’s Nocino!, a green-walnut liqueur has been named Spirit of the Year by Artisan Distillers Canada.
BRITISH COLUMBIAN CRAFT distilleries are making a name for themselves on a national scale.
This year’s Canadian Artisan Spirits Competition (CASC)—the country’s only national spirit competition for artisan distillers, put on by Artisan Distillers Canada—featured Best in Class, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals 19 categories. Clearly, whatever is in BC water made it into BC spirits, too: local distilleries won Best in Class in 10 of them.
North Vancouver’s Woods Spirit Co. received the honour in the Amaro/Vermouth category for its Pacific Northwest Amaro. The Liberty Distillery, on Granville Island, won the Aged Gin title for Endeavour Old Tom Gin, while Odd Society Spirits nabbed the Single Malt Whisky prize for its Commodore Single Malt Whisky.
Wynndel Craft Distilleries’ Apple Brandy won for Brandy or Eau de Vie; Arbutus Distillery Espresso Vodka won for Flavoured or Infused Vodka; Merridale Cidery & Distillery won Alternative Rum category with tis Cowichan Spiced Rhumb; and Shelter Point Distillery’s Double Barrel Batch 5 earned top spot in the Single Grain Whisky slot.
The star of the show however, was Ampersand Distilling Co.’s Nocino! The Italian-style green-walnut liqueur won Best in Class for the Liqueur category and, after earning the most points overall, took home the title of Spirit of the Year.
Crafted from hand-picked walnuts harvested in the Cowichan Valley at the height of summer and sweetened with B.C. honey, the spirit was described by judges as “complex and exceptionally balanced….[with] loads of character”. Tasting notes point to coffee, orange, candied fruit and cloves.
“Deeply roasted, nutty nose with elements of green-leaf, floral, plant/botanical, that makes it lively and fresh,” the judges wrote. “Finishes incredibly smoothly, with a deeply roasted flavour and a pleasing note of bitterness. The use of fresh ingredients is obvious in a nuanced palate that smells of the outdoors: tree, plant, leaf, nut, blossom.”
Ampersand’s Per Se Vodka—which was named vodka of the year at the 2020 World Vodka Awards—is used as Nocino’s base. Made with B.C.-grown wheat and natural spring water, it has a smidge of sweetness.
The father-son team of Stephen and Jeremy Schacht founded Ampersand Distillery in 2014, operating out of their five-acre organic farm. Both are trained engineers whose love of science and traditional distilling techniques influence their hand-crafted spirits.
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