Four litres of vodka not enough?

Saskatchewan Mickey may be right for you

The cost of living crisis driving you to drink?

Saskatchewan's got you covered.

While Albertans and their provincial government recover from the news earlier this month that four-litre jugs of vodka were available for sale in their province, even larger options for alcoholic beverages have been available in Saskatchewan for years with little controversy.

The “Saskatchewan Mickey ” — first produced in 2016 by Radouga Distilleries in Blaine Lake, a tiny town about an hour's drive north of Saskatoon — is an enormous vodka-filled 18.9-litre water cooler jug and the company's largest size option for their Provincial vodka brand.

“It was basically used for well (house) vodka in bars, restaurants and lounges,” said Radouga operations manager Lawrence Eberle, until orders started trickling in from retail liquor stores.

“They had customers asking for them.”

Despite starting at a suggested price of $499, the Saskatchewan Mickey proved a wildly popular product — with the distillery selling nearly 200 of them last year alone.

The largest size typically available in Canadian liquor stores are three-litre bottles commonly known as Texas Mickeys.

“That was known to be the giant in the industry, but we had these Culligan jugs lying around so we figured `why not fill these up with vodka?'” Eberle said.

A lot of bars were already purchasing bulk quantities of vodka and transferring them to large jugs for bar use, he said — and the Saskatchewan Mickey found its niche.

He said customers buy them for parties, events and even as gifts.

Despite the obvious, Eberle recommends against using Saskatchewan Mickeys in commercial water coolers, as the alcohol tends to deteriorate watertight seals.

Earlier this month, Alberta was rocked by news that liquor stores in the province were selling vodka in four-litre milk jugs.

It's a size entirely legal to produce and sell in the province, but the revelation triggered enough angst to prompt the Edmonton-area distillery to temporarily halt production, as well as garner admonishments from an outraged Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally.

“I don't think a four-litre plastic jug of vodka adds to the quality of the distillery industry we have in this province,” Nally told reporters at a press conference about the $49.95 jug.

“I don't think that it is responsible pricing to price it like that.”

Nally's comments came on the same day the UCP tabled a bill that, if approved, would give the minister explicit authority to review and set alcohol prices in the province.

Despite temporarily halting sales, the jugs are still for sale on the distillery's website.

Yvonne Irnich, CEO of St. Albert's T-rex Distillery, told The Canadian Press the jugs were on store shelves a year before Nally took notice, and demanded an apology from the minister.

“We got a lot of publicity, but it wasn't all good publicity,” Irnich said.

Inquiries to Saskatchewan's Minister of Crown Investments Corporation Dustin Duncan by Postmedia went unacknowledged, but Eberle said the province had reservations over the Saskatchewan Mickey upon its debut.