Last week I toured, Vancouver’s first craft distillery to create spirits from organic wheat, located on Granville Island. This new distillery has been 4 years in the making, Lisa Simpson, co-founder with her husband Robert have exuberant patience as well are both perfectionists who wanted the distillery to be exactly as they dreamed. Lisa told me all about the intricacies of opening a distillery and how she learned the distilling process first hand.

While some distilleries start with an already-distilled neutral grain spirit (NGS), The Liberty Distillery uses organic BC wheat and barley to produce its own mash on-site. This is then carefully fermented and triple distilled in their handcrafted CARL stills to the highest standard under the careful stewardship of international award-winning Master Distiller Laurent LaFuente. The Liberty Distillery is truly excited to welcome the public to share their journey and mark a new chapter in BC’s craft distilling industry.

The Liberty Distillery is a true artisan craft distillery operating under the British Columbia’s Craft Distilling policy, meaning every step from grain to glass is performed by hand with 100% BC-grown ingredients. I had a chance to watch the distilling process through the glass windows from the distillery shop where you can view the entire process as well as the bottling and labeling.

At the distillery, you can sample Liberty’s hand-crafted Truth Vodka, sample the soon to launch White Whiskey and hear the antique BC steam donkey whistle blowing to signal a new spirit batch.

Guests can also shop for unique merchandise while enjoying a signature cocktail at the prohibition-era bar. You can find The Liberty Distillery on Granville Island at 1494 Old Bridge Street. The tasting room and gift shop is open to the public. Cocktails will soon be available as well as light snacks.

By: Richard Wolak