Vancouver Island is renown as being the best in Canada for many things: fishing, tourism and surfing just to name a few.
And now you can add whisky to that list.
According to the experts, the best rye whisky in the country is made on Vancouver Island.
The 10th annual Canadian Whisky Awards were held in Victoria Jan. 16 and Shelter Point Distillery won the award for Best All-Rye Whisky in Canada.
The distillery, located just south of Campbell River, beat rival distilleries from across Canada to take the crown for its single cask rye.
Shelter Point won gold medals for its single cask rye and for its recently released Smoke Point single grain whisky, finished in ex-Laphroaig barrels from Islay in Scotland.
And that wasn’t the only hardware the distillery took home from the event.
Shelter Point also took silver medals home for its Shelter Point Artisanal Cask Strength, Shelter Point Artisanal Single Malt, Shelter Point Double Barrel, Shelter Point Montfort DL 141, Shelter Point Single Cask Old Vines Foch Reserve, and Shelter Point Wine and Beyond Exclusive Single Malt.
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Shelter Point was also awarded bronze medals for its Shelter Point Strath 8 Year Old, Shelter Point Strath Islay Cask, and Shelter Point Exclusive Co-op Rye.
This year’s haul from the Canadian Whisky Awards will have to fight for room in the trophy case, however, as it’s already pretty full for a facility that hasn’t yet been producing its spirits for a decade.
Last year, for example, at these same awards, the distillery took home the award of excellence for innovation, along with a gold medal, went to Shelter Point’s Montfort District Lot 141, along with silver medals for the Strath Edition of its Classic Single Malt and its Double Barreled Single Malt and bronze medals for its Avant-Garde Barley, Cask Strength and Classic Single Malt whiskies.
miked@campbellrivermirror.com
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