The Diamond Valley-based Eau Claire Distillery has been awarded the Best Canadian Whisky at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits and Ready to Drink Competition.
David Farran, the Founder and CEO of Eau Clarie Distillery, said it was a bit of a surprise when the announcement came in that they were the winners of the Best Canadian Whisky.
"It's a bit of a surprise with the most recent award, but we had a series of awards that led up to it, so we were kind of aware that we were going to be in the running for this award. We won the Double Gold Award for the San Francisco Show for whisky three years in a row. What that means is three years of the competition we submitted and it made it through all of the judging process to be the best whisky that was presented. That was 73 judges that had to agree unanimously that it was the best."
The 73 judges are considered the best aficionados and experts in the whisky business. After winning three years in a row it gave the distillery a platinum award and set the bar for Eau Claire in being at the top worldwide for whisky.
Farran explained how the Best in Class award was judged.
"Best in Class was taking all of the Canadian whisky's that had been submitted into the competition and deciding out of all of those Canadian whisky's which was the best. There were five runners up and we took it home. That really says out of all the producers large and small that we are the best Canadian whisky in the world."
He said that it's a combination of things that have worked in their flavour for producing the taste in their Best in Class whisky. One of the things he praised about his whisky is that it uses Alberta barley and the ingredients from the province.
"Our climate is perfect for producing good whisky, particularly in Turner Valley where we are bitter, dry climate that accelerates maturation. It makes it better and more flavourful in a shorter amount of time."
Farran also credits his team in helping make the award possible. He also takes great pride in how everything has turned out for the Eau Claire Distillery as they started up around 10 years ago and can now claim their whisky is the best in the country.