bcbusiness.ca OctOber 2015 BCBusiness 81
With all the various local roadblocks,
many B.C. distillers have started to set their sights
overseas. For Shelter Point's Evans—who ships 80 per
cent of his product to Japan, with the rest being sold
on the Island and at select Vancouver retailers—the
economics just make more sense. "If we ship two
pallets on a truck to Vancouver it costs $800, but if
we ship that through the port of Vancouver to Japan,
it's $650. Canada has a brilliant name in Asia and we
should be working on that; Christy Clark has been
pushing us and supporting us in those export mar-
kets. There are 30 million people in all of Canada—
or 30 million in Beijing alone."
Still, that won't stop some in B.C from trying to
develop the local market and lobby the government
to create a more even playing "eld for small-batch dis-
tillers. In 2013, Vancouver tech executive Alex Hamer
saw that his province was poised for a boom in its
microdistilling industry and at the same time realized
that distillers faced a challenge in bringing awareness
to consumers. Taking a break from his IT career, he
founded BC Distilled with the goal of celebrating and
highlighting B.C. distilleries. This year's event—the only
tasting festival in Canada focused exclusively on local
spirits—pulled in a crowd of 600 local distillery fans to
CBC Vancouver's studios, eager to sample spirits from
the 22 distillers in attendance.
"We will continue to see growth in this exciting
industry, but our work isn't done in building awareness
and ensuring it remains a strong part of B.C.'s economy
and culture,"¤says Hamer. "Look at the beer industry
in the '90s. Most bars only served big brands, and now
even the most mainstream place has a microbrew on
tap. Not every bar will carry dozens of local spirits, but
I think most will carry a few."
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stay awHile
Long Table Distillery's tasting room features "Gin
and Tonic Fridays" and "Cocktail Saturdays"
