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“Being the first and pioneering is never
the easiest position to be in,” he said.
“There was a lot of fear of what would
happen in the industry and trepidation
on the part of the government to allow
change, but it’s the right thing for the
consumer.
“We’re in virgin territory, but it’s a fun
place to be.”
After a few months of hype, Eau
Claire released its first two products
this summer: Three Point Vodka and
Parlour Gin. Both are made with locally
grown malting barley—an unusual
base for vodka and gin, but one that
produces a smooth, flavourful spirit
with an appealing touch of sweetness.
For the gin, Eau Claire uses a blend of
12 botanicals with an Albertan twist,
including saskatoon berries and rosehips.
The bottles for both the vodka and the
gin carry eye-catching designs, depicting
what Farran called “social animals.”
“We wanted to develop what we
thought would be an iconic Canadian
brand, something that reflected Alberta
and our home roots,” he said. “We
thought the best way
to reflect that would
be to incorporate
what we call social
animals, which are
different Canadian
animals in social
scenes that would
be reminiscent of
Alberta country
culture.”
In the case of the
vodka, the name of
the spirit also draws inspiration from
its local roots and geography. Three
Point Vodka is named after Three Point
Creek, a tributary of the Sheep River,
where Eau Claire gets its water.
Eau Claire plans to add whisky offerings
to its repertoire in the near future, Farran
said, including a rye whisky and a single-
malt. However, according to Canadian
law, all Canadian whiskies must be aged a
minimum of three years, so the release of
these darker spirits is at least a few years
away. In the meantime, Farran said, he and
his colleagues are developing some other
creative spirit offerings.
“We have a lot of ideas,” he said. “We’ll
come out with some special seasonals,
particularly around Christmastime, but I’m
not ready to reveal the secrets yet.”
At Eau Claire, the grain that gives life to
its spirits is never an afterthought. In fact,
it’s an integral part of the distillery’s farm-
to-glass philosophy.
“You have to be able to source it and
know where it came from at the farm,
then follow every transparent step of
the process right through to the bottle,”
Farran said. “We’ve been sourcing it
direct from farmers and we’ve been
getting good advice on growers from a
lot of the seed-cleaning plants that have
kind of done referrals for us.
“We do plan to profile our farm
suppliers on our website so people can
actually see directly where it comes from
in a transparent food chain.”
According to Farran, the base grain is
vital for the terroir it lends to the finished
spirit. Terroir—a French word meaning
the specific characteristics imparted
to an agricultural
product from the
environment in which
it was grown—is
a concept most
commonly used
in relation to wine,
but Farran said it is
equally applicable
when it comes to
the grain used for
distilling.
“When you actually
choose specific grains according to soil
type, climate and according to the year,
you get some amazing differences in taste
that get translated into the product,” he
said. “Instead of treating the product as
a uniform commodity, you’re now talking
about the differences from year to year,
almost as you would a fine wine.”
Farran is so passionate about grain that
he farms some of Eau Claire’s supplies of
barley and rye on his own operation near
Turner Valley, using his team of horses and
a 100-year-old plough.
“We have about 25 acres under
cultivation by horses,” he said. “Which is
a small part of our overall production, but
it makes for great special editions.”
The development of Three Point
Vodka—the product that launched Eau
Claire into the spirits market and gave
people their first exposure to the craft
distillery—was extremely important,
Farran said. Eau Claire reached out to
a variety of industry experts, including
several local bartenders and storeowners,
to run focus groups.
“They approached us early on to get
our opinion on things like packaging, price
points, style, what’s working, what’s selling
for us, andwhat we’ve seen on themarket
wherewe think there’s opportunity,” said
JesseWillis, co-owner of Calgary’s Vine Arts
Wine and Spirits. “It’s been a neat process
for us becausewe’ve been able towatch
themalong theway and give a little bit of
our input and our insight.”
According to Farran, the consultation
process was extremely valuable in
crafting the final product.
“We wanted to make sure what we
were making fit the market,” he said.
“We did go back to the drawing board
a few times.”
Fall
2014
grainswest.com
41
“Prohibition and boom
time in Turner Valley
overlapped, which
created some incredible
sort of frontier town
mentalities.”
–David Farran
BOTTLE SERVICE:
Eau Claire’s Three Point
Vodka is now available at several Alberta bars,
restaurants and liquor stores. Each bottle retails
for about $50.