Alberta used to be a rather dreary province for distilled spirits. Sure, we had the Alberta Premium Rye Whisky your dad mixed with coke down the local honkytonk while listening to Merle Haggard on the jukebox, but not much else.
Fortunately, the provincial red tape around craft distilling was drastically cut by in 2013, leading to small distilleries popping up all over our fair province, bringing with them small-batch vodka, gin, whisky, and any other spirit you can imagine.
Always looking for an excuse to support our local small businesses, I found an opportunity a few weeks back, in the form of the eleventh annual World Gin Day, which I spent touring a few local craft distilleries.
Whenever a new distillery opens up in Alberta, you can be certain they will have vodka and gin on the menu immediately, both of which usually come from the same base ingredients, with the gin receiving an added infusion of herbs and botanicals.
Whisky is rarely available at a brand-new distillery, as it must be aged for 3 years in oak prior to bottling, but vodka and gin have no such aging requirements.
Our waxing and waning love affair with gin in North America started in the dark days of Prohibition. Despite the best efforts of the morality police, booze was consumed with great abandon in the speakeasies that existed in every city. Because the hooch producers and suppliers had to keep one step ahead of the law, there was a shift from whiskey to gin, simply because gin did not require extensive aging.
Because so much illicit liquor was being produced clandestinely, the so-called bathtub gin of the day was generally of poor quality, so had to be mixed with sweet juices or honey to mask the foul taste. This was how many gin cocktails were born, and many are still popular to this day.
When Prohibition ended in 1933, gin cocktails remained popular not only because of familiarity, but because it would take several years of aging in oak barrels to build up a domestic supply of whiskey.
Consumer tastes changed in North America in the 1960s, with cocktails largely going out of fashion, until a vodka-led surge of cocktail culture in the 1980s, followed by increased popularity of traditional gin-based cocktails in the mid-noughties.
The gin renaissance that started more than a decade ago is still going strong, with much of the popularity being led by the small artisanal distilleries.
The first craft gin in Alberta comes from the Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley, which opened its doors in 2014, and has already expanded production several times to keep up with demand.
I made the trip to Turner Valley for World Gin Day last month, just to enjoy the Eau Claire Parlour Gin directly from the source in their tastefully appointed taproom, built in the old-timey movie theatre and former saloon right downtown.
The Eau Claire Parlour Gin is their most popular spirit, and is made with locally grown barley that is harvested from the field directly behind the distillery, making it the shortest distance from farm to glass you have ever sipped!
A secret blend of juniper berries and locally grown botanicals are infused during the distillation process for that quintessential gin flavour.
Although there are countless gin-based cocktails to choose from, my favourite is still the humble gin and tonic, a simple and timeless classic in own right.
My drinking companions of the day were more interested in the Eau Claire Prickly Pear EquineOx, a sweeter spirit made from locally grown barley, and blended with the essence of the prickly pear cactus, a native succulent that grows all over southern Alberta.
I like to use the EquineOx to make an Albertan version of the Moscow Mule, starting with a jigger glass of spirit, then adding ginger beer and lime juice, preferably over ice in a copper mug.
The juice from the prickly pear cactus makes the EquineOx sweeter than a vodka or gin, so can easily substitute for rum, or pretty much any cocktail that uses a sweet juice or soda mixer.
If the last gin to pass your lips was an old Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire, you need to get with the times! Look for one of the many local Alberta gin distillers at your local bottle shop and try one today!
