Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery has repeated its win as Distiller of the year in international competition. Photographer: Contributed

That’s the spirit – Okanagan distiller wins international awards

OKANAGAN – Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery is celebrating a repeat win after being named distillery of the year for the second time at the 2015 World Spirits Awards in Dennmark.

The distillery’s black currant liqueur beat out competition from 25 countries and 65 distilleries to take Spirit of the Year. Its Danish-style Aquavitus and Haskap liqueur took double gold while the raspberry liqueur and Genuine Taboo absinthe earned singles.

Senior distiller Peter von Hahn was there to represent the distillery and picked up three double gold medals himself.

On the Okanagan Spirits website, Von Hahn gives credit to the quality and variety of B.C. grown fruits and grains that supply the company with its raw ingredients.

Company CEO Tyler Dyck said their continued success in the international competition is helping establish Canadian craft distilleries as a force to be reckoned with.

The company locations in Kelowna and Vernon and is opening a new, 16,000 square ft. distillery in Vernon at the end of next month.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infotelnews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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