DEEP COVE BREWERS AND DISTILLERS

Gibbons Hospitality Group is a Whistlerbased entertainment company that owns several popular pubs and founded the Whistler Village Beer Festival. Owner Joey Gibbons has always been interested in pursuing the vertical integration of his company’s various arms; so when the provincial government changed the “tied house” rules, he began looking for a brewery and distillery with which to partner. Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers was a small business just getting off the ground. Owner Shae de Jaray, a mechanical engineer who completed a masters in brewing and distilling in Edinburgh, had returned home to the easternmost edge of Vancouver’s North Shore to build a production facility near the water and surrounded by forest, where he could pursue his off-duty passion for outdoor recreation. It was a match made in outdoor heaven. “Deep Cove is just like Whistler, but in Vancouver,” de Jaray says, laughing. “We became partners and good friends because our lifestyles and mentality match up.” The cozy Deep Cove brewery and distillery is a favourite hangout for locals who appreciate the distinctive flavour of the spirits made on the premises with B.C.grown and malted barley. In Whistler, Gibbons appreciates being able to offer his guests the complete distillery-toglass experience: “Our team can go up to the table and say, ‘ This is our vodka. We created it. The grain comes from here. The water is from the North Shore Mountains.’ When you can connect all those dots, it becomes a really interesting business.”

604-770-1136 | deepcovecraft.com Try it at … Firerock Lounge Warm up next to the fireplace in this cozy lounge while sipping a dirty rosemary and olive “Olivier” martini, or a boozy coffee spiked with pumpkin mocha “Jack-O’-Lantern Joe” liqueur.

604-935-4345| firerocklounge.com