Shown above: Ceremonial sod turning and press launch for the new distillery building, July 16, 2008. Guest speaker, Honorable Stan Hagen, BC Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

Single Malt Whisky Distillery on Vancouver Island breaks ground.

Shelter Point Distillery Ltd. has begun construction of its single malt whisky distillery. A groundbreaking ceremony was held today on the site located between Courtenay and Campbell River.

The distillery is to produce high quality single malt whisky on Vancouver Island using locally grown barley.

The project combines a careful combination of the island’s renowned produce, clean water and Scottish distilling expertise. It will produce around fifty thousand litres of spirit which once mature will become Vancouver Island single malt.

The project has been set up by Jay Oddleifson with local farmer Patrick Evans and Andrew Currie, who previously built Isle of Arran Distillery in Scotland.

The business begins with a world wide growth in high quality whiskies and reflects the consumer’s growing interest in farm scale, locally produced premium products.

The Stills will be manufactured in Scotland on Speyside and will be arriving for installation early 2009. The building project is scheduled to finish by Spring 2009.

Jay Oddleifson, managing director, is delighted. ‘We have been working on this for a couple of years and I am very happy to see the excavators begin the building work. It has long been my ambition to produce a high quality whisky here and now the process has begun.’

The spirit will be matured on site with a carefully chosen selection of high quality barrels handpicked from bourbon distillers in Kentucky.

As well as using barley grown on the farm, the company aims to install its own malting equipment.

‘The joy of this project’, says Jay, ‘is that we can point to a field next to the distillery and say that the barley over there ends up in our own bottle of single malt. You couldn’t get more local and more traceable in our production methods. Now I just look forward to tasting the spirit.’

John Watson, Executive Director, Comox Valley Economic Development, is excited about this innovative enterprise.
 
“The Distillery will expand our agricultural base, will add to our culinary tourism product offering and act as a prime example of the type of diverse agri-investment opportunities that exist here.”

Shelter Point Distillery

Progress and projected timeline

2006-2008

Over the last few years, a lot of background work has been done to move this project forward. The corporate entity and partnership agreement amongst the principals has been finalized.

- Andrew Currie contributes years of experience in the startup and operation of single malt distilleries. This is his first venture in North America.
- Jay Oddleifson brings expertise in financial, corporate, and government relations, all critical to the success of a this type of venture.
- Patrick Evans provides location, the hands on skills and resources to build the physical plant, and the agricultural knowhow to produce the raw materials so critical to the excellence of the final product.

All provincial government approvals are now in place to go forward with the creation of the Shelter Point Distillery, the first operation of its kind in western Canada, and only one of a handful of Single Malt Distilleries in all of North America.

Test plantings and analysis confirm superior crop and growing conditions for malting barley on the farm location.

2008 Spring and Summer

Timber frame beams for construction milled and stored on site
Timber frame building conceptualized and designed
Engineered plan sets for building completed and approved
Drawings and estimates for custom distilling equipment received from Forsyths in Scotland. These consist of the Mash Tun, Wash and Spirit Stills, and the Spirit Safe

July 16, 2008

Ceremonial sod turning and press launch for the new distillery building
Guest speaker, Honorable Stan Hagen, Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

July – August 2008

Site cleared and prepped, Gravel road from public road to site.
Lot line adjusted and registered
Foundations poured, framing and construction commences
Equipment ordered from Forsyth in Scotland

September 2008

Construction ongoing

Thanksgiving 2008       

Building to lock up

December 2008           

Distilling equipment received from Scotland, commence installation

January 2008

Installation and commissioning of the equipment ongoing
Interior finishing on building

February 2009       

Installation and commissioning complete, commence distillation
 

2009

Test batches of Single Malt will be ongoing as the distilling equipment and processing steps are worked out to fine tune the equipment
Brand development
Various products based on the new spirits will be developed for sale prior to the aged single malt being ready for market
Sourcing of oak barrels from Kentucky

2010

First production runs of Vancouver Island Single Malt using farm-grown barley