Pacific Wine & Spirits finds perfect pairing with Eau Claire Distillery deal
Pacific Wine & Spirits president Linda Robinson has always sought out family-owned brands for her Alberta business to promote and distribute.
After looking for a perfect partner in craft spirits, she is delighted to add Eau Claire Distillery to the long list of premium brands her company represents.
Eau Claire Distillery was started by president David Farran and his master distiller, Larry Kerwin.
Farran was the first employee of Big Rock Breweries and Kerwin its first brewmaster. They are proud to be perhaps the only distillery that farms its own 35 acres of barley, using about 60 Alberta horses, antique binding and threshing machines to complete a real farm-to-glass process.
Eau Claire Distillery was opened in the summer of 2014 inside the circa-1923 Turner Valley Theatre, born from the partners’ ambition to create small batch, premium spirits using traditional artisanal methods.
Its core products, Three Point Vodka, Parlour Gin and Prickly Pear Equinox, proved very successful and this fall a three-year aged single malt whisky will be ready to be drawn from barrels.
A brand name and label design must be decided before it arrives on shelves early next year.
The single malt is the work of master distiller Caitlin Quinn, a graduate of the prestigious Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh who moved to Calgary after Farran had petitioned the school for qualified applicants.
The distillery’s brands have largely been promoted in southern Alberta by energetic sales vice-president Martin Gunson, although a larger sales force was needed for future expansion.
There are at present 1,446 retail liquors stores across Alberta; add restaurants, hotels, bars, private clubs and golf courses, and that’s far too much for just one person.
“We are confident that our shared ideals of excellence in quality and customer service will foster continued growth and success for Eau Claire’s popular brand family,” Farran says about partnering with Pacific Wines & Spirits.
Robinson has a team of 29 employees across Western Canada that will work on convincing the governments of B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba to stock Eau Claire’s labels.
Pacific also enjoys a joint venture partnership with Ontario wine agent FWM Canada and eventually hopes to introduce the distillery to that province.
Pacific Wine & Spirits was founded in Vancouver 1973. It was purchased by Bill Bowlen of Edmonton in 1995 and Robinson joined as a sales representative in 1996.
By 2001, she was Alberta sales manager and became president of the company in 2005, which has its administrative, sales and finance departments in Calgary.
It specializes in premium brands like Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca and Crofts that have earned it 72 per cent of the market share for port in Alberta.
Its portfolio of spirits is made up of family-owned and operated companies, including Glenfarclas scotch, Gilpin’s gin, Miguel Torres brandy and Sonoma rye.
Robinson’s husband, Brent, sold his restaurant business to become Pacific’s purchasing manager, handling forecasting and logistics to get brands to market.
Her son, Christopher, who hopes to be accepted into the University of Adelaide’s prestigious winemakers’ program, worked the last four grape harvests with clients Taylor Fladgate in Portugal, Yalambu and Jim Barry in Australia, and Henry of Pelham in Niagara.
Daughter Emily is studying at Queen’s University but has spent a lot of time in the Iberian Peninsula and Scotland visiting Pacific clients.
NEWS AND NOTES
University District is opening its Discovery Centre this weekend to potential homeowners, neighbours and others curious about the 200-acre mixed-use community being built just west of the University of Calgary.