In response to these pressures, wine grape researchers are evaluating more climate-resilient varieties and developing improved forecasting systems and disease management techniques. Meanwhile, research programs on hops and malting barley remain primarily focused on breeding climate-resilient cultivars.

Wine grapes and polar vortex events

Few sectors have felt the effects of climate instability as sharply as the Canadian wine industry. There have been devastating crop losses from “polar vortex” events, which occur when a normally stable pool of cold air over the Arctic is disrupted and plunges southward.

The Okanagan Valley, which accounts for 86 per cent of British Columbia’s vineyard acreage, experienced two consecutive polar vortex events in December 2022 and January 2024. These events were crippling, with some estimates putting the total 2024 losses at 97 to 99 per cent of all grapes in the region, amounting to an economic loss of $440 to $445 million in revenue.

Across wine grapes, barley and hops, Canadian researchers and growers are confronting the same reality: climate change is reshaping every stage of crop production.

Darien Temprile, executive director of the Canadian Grapevine Certification Network (CGCN) says that they are overseeing national research projects to look into superior grape vine material with the potential to withstand Canadian climates. This involves evaluating different Vitis cultivars, as well as clone and rootstock selections, for their vine performance, fruit composition and cold hardiness.

While CGCN does not currently manage any grape breeding programs in Canada, it ensures its certified clean repository is stocked with the best grapevine propagation material to withstand Canada’s cold temperatures.

Growing uniform barley in an unpredictable climate

For barley farmers, the main challenge is climate volatility. The Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission (SaskBarley) has between 40 and 60 research projects going on at any given time. Mitchell Japp, the research and extension manager at SaskBarley, notes that while weather variability has always existed, growers have been dealing with extremely hot, then dry, seasons. This year, farmers were still dealing with spring runoff in mid-May, leaving fields too wet for planting.

When breeding barley for climate resilience, SaskBarley funds testing sites for different varieties “across a network of sites that range from southern Manitoba, where it’s warm and wet, to southern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, where it’s hot and dry, and up into northern Saskatchewan, northern Alberta, where it’s cool and wet. Generally, the varieties that get selected are the ones that perform and are stable across all those environments,” said Japp.

“If they can be stable across all those environments, we think they have good stability against whatever climate change might throw at us in the short term, and that’s all we can manage for. We can’t manage for what’s going to happen 50 years from now.”

Japp notes that most of SaskBarley’s investment goes into breeding new barley varieties with improved yield potential and agronomic characteristics, such as increased resistance to disease and lodging. Lodging occurs when the barley falls over from its vertical position, typically due to strong winds, heavy rain or overgrowth. It makes harvest recovery more challenging.

“We’re using a plant growth regulator to help the crop not grow so tall and have stronger stems. We’re trying to find the conditions where that’s most helpful because it’s not efficient for growers to grow their crops and then have them be difficult to harvest or lose quality because they’re lying on the ground,” said Japp. Ideally, all crops will be at the same stage at harvest, so researchers are exploring different fertility management methods to determine whether they can manipulate the development of late barley heads.

Heat waves and the future of hops

Canada’s craft beer industry exploded from approximately 400 breweries in 2010 to over 1,200 in 2025, according to data from IBISWorld, which spurred growth of the hops sector. However, only relatively small regions have suitable environmental conditions for growing high-quality aroma hops, and there is a serious risk that heat waves and droughts will stunt plant growth, shorten crop development cycles and reduce acid levels.

A research article published by Nature Communications in 2023 found that hop production in European regions is projected to decline by four to 18 per cent, while alpha content is projected to decline by 20 to 31 per cent. Hop farmers have responded by relocating hop gardens to higher elevations, changing the orientation and spacing of crop rows and breeding more resistant varieties.

At Kwantlen Polytechnic University in B.C., the NextGen Hops team says that current hop varieties grown in the province were bred and trialed in U.S. or Germany and are not adapted to grow in the B.C. climate. This is why the team is working to develop new, unique hop varieties that are proprietary to the province. At NextGen Hops, they are crossing locally adapted male hop plants with existing commercial varieties. They have also been able to transfer heat and drought-tolerant traits to their varieties by using wild hop plants collected from extreme growing environments throughout North America.

The breeding project began in 2018 and is unique in that it uses genomics to identify and mark desirable traits, then tracks those markers through successive DNA tests. Instead of waiting for a full growing season, a small leaf sample can be used to immediately identify the presence of a trait, freeing up field space and other resources.

Excessive rainfall and the rise of crop diseases

Excessive rainfall leads to a higher incidence of diseases such as powdery mildew, downy mildew and grey mould in grape vines. Viral diseases such as grape vine red blotch and leafroll are also becoming more common. Temprile says that vine infection can reduce winter hardiness by up to four degrees Celsius in some varieties. “This presents a huge gap for potential vine injury or death with Canada’s volatile temperature fluctuations,” she said.

Infected vines require more money and resources to manage, making it more difficult for wine growers to turn a profit. Ultimately, the best long-term vineyard management decision is to remove the infected vines and replace them with certified clean vines. CGCN maintains a clean vine repository that includes samples of healthy, virus-tested grape vine material. This repository is vital in protecting the global viticulture economy as it ensures that Canadian vineyards always have access to healthy vines.

Harrison Wright, PhD, an academic researcher from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says climate adaptation pressures and consumer preference for fewer pesticides will push the wine industry to be more accepting of hybrid grapes (hybrids are crossings between two or more grape species).

In Canada, these crossings are usually between the European Vitis vinifera and hardy North American vines. They are naturally more resistant to diseases and pests, and can survive long-lasting cold temperatures. “Quebec would not have any wine grape industry if it wasn’t for the fact that [they] had hybrids,” said Wright.

Forest fires and smoke-tainted wine

In 2023, Canada experienced an extraordinarily destructive wildfire season. Fires consumed 16.5 million hectares – nearly seven times the historical average, according to Natural Resources Canada. Drier, hotter summers put more stress on grapes, while increased forest fires make wine grapes more susceptible to developing smoke taint.

Smoke taint occurs when grapes absorb pungent airborne compounds called volatile phenols from wildfire smoke. Once absorbed into the ripening grape tissue, these compounds bind to one or more carbohydrates found within ripening grapes. These carbohydrate-bound volatile phenols, in contrast with their smelly “free” forms, are odourless. However, when yeast is added during fermentation, it may break down the carbohydrate chain, unmasking the original smoky molecules.

Wesley Zandberg, PhD, professor at the University of British Columbia, focuses his research on better understanding the mechanisms by which smoke molecules are absorbed into the grape and how the addition of yeast unmasks these smoky aroma compounds. Zandberg stresses that smoke exposure does not necessarily mean smoke taint. “To know you have a tainted wine, it’s still a subjective thing … an oaked wine will have the same markers as a smoky wine, just at different concentrations and different ratios,” he said.

In proper concentrations, the wine would be said to have “peppery” or “oaky” notes, which are desirable, versus being smoke-tainted, where the same smoky aromas are present at too high a concentration. Currently, most wineries send samples of their wine grapes for smoke taint testing. If the concentrations of volatile phenols are too high, they can apply for crop protection insurance. In this case, they would have to destroy their crop to collect insurance for the smoke-damaged crop.

However, there is ongoing research into using sprays to create a barrier between grapes and smoke. “I’ve tested some products. In one year, it works really well, and in the other year, it doesn’t work at all. So, you know, these aren’t easy experiments,” said Zandberg.

The challenge of breeding climate-resilient barley varieties

Gina Feist, executive director of the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute (BMBRI), is particularly concerned about the erosion of public funding for barley breeding programs. “To breed a new variety really takes eight to 10 years, and so the dollars that are going in at this time will be funding those varieties coming out in the next decade,” said Feist.

Since climate‑impact research requires many years of data to yield meaningful insights for farmers and maltsters, long‑term investment is essential. “Farmers have a choice of growing several different crops, and they need to be profitable. We need to continue to invest in [barley] research so that it remains a profitable cropping option,” she said. Japp is quick to praise farmers for their quick adoption of new technologies such as “zero tillage,” which prevents soil erosion, and “variable rate applications,” which optimize the use of fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides in each area of the field.

Japp says the biggest barrier to adopting these climate-resilient varieties is the slow uptake by maltsters and brewers. He believes that outreach by organizations such as the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre is central to raising awareness of new barley varieties and driving industry demand. Across wine grapes, barley and hops, Canadian researchers and growers are confronting the same reality: climate change is reshaping every stage of crop production.

While each industry faces distinct challenges, all are racing to develop climate-resilient varieties, technologies and management strategies needed to sustain Canada’s alcoholic beverage industry.

For Livermore, the most meaningful accomplishments have never been the accolades, but the discoveries, innovations and unanswered questions behind them. Curiosity, for him, has never been separate from the job; it has been the thing driving it forward all along. That outlook is evident when Livermore reflects on significant moments of his career. He does not immediately point toward award-winning bottles or global recognition. Instead, he points toward infrared sensors.

“When I think about the defining moments of my career, my mind goes back to something that happened long before I became master blender at Hiram Walker,” Livermore said. “Around 1998, early in my career, I developed a technique using infrared sensors to analyze fermentation. It became a transformational innovation for the industry, and distilleries around the world still use variations of that technology today.”

That commitment to innovation as something capable of reshaping the industry would go on to be a driving force in the career that followed. Livermore would eventually become the master blender behind whiskies including J.P. Wiser’s, Lot 40 and Pike Creek, helping push Canadian whisky into more premium global conversations while earning multiple Canadian Whisky Master Blender of the Year honours along the way. Recently, he was named Master Distiller/Master Blender of the Year at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards in London, U.K. But for Livermore, the bigger achievement wasn’t necessarily attached to those bottles.

“I’ve crafted many, many whiskies and received many awards,” he said. “But changing how the industry works remains one of the accomplishments I’m most proud of.”

The science behind the spirit

Livermore joined Hiram Walker as a research scientist in 1996 after graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in microbiology, entering the industry at a moment when Canadian whisky was facing pressure.

Vodka was booming, drinking habits were changing and many spirits companies were consolidating through mergers and acquisitions, but Livermore’s attention was already fixed elsewhere: fermentation science, data systems, and the mechanics underlying flavour development. That perspective led him to pioneer the use of NIR analysis for fermentation monitoring, work that transformed how distilleries analyze and optimize production.

“When you can create good data, you can then make good decisions. We moved the needle in terms of fermentation sciences,” said Livermore.

The impact stretched well beyond the laboratory. Better fermentation efficiency lowered costs, improved consistency and reduced carbon footprint through higher-gravity brewing systems that gradually increased alcohol yields from roughly eight per cent to 16 per cent. “Consumers don’t necessarily see the fermentation systems or the production changes happening behind the scenes, but they experience the results through better consistency, better quality and ultimately better value on their wallet,” said Livermore.

That balance between science and consumer experience runs through every part of Livermore’s thinking. He does not separate technical innovation from creativity. To him, they are inseparable disciplines: data enables creativity, curiosity fuels consistency and science protects quality while also creating room for experimentation. It’s also why he resists romanticized ideas about whisky making that reduce the role of a master blender to sensory instinct alone.

Livermore’s view of the job is considerably broader. In his mind, the blender isn’t an artist working in isolation, but a connector operating across every stage of production and business strategy simultaneously. “My job is a funnel,” he said. “I take in all of these different inputs – consumer behaviour, inventory, production realities, commercial pressures, opportunities across the business – and funnel that into the final whisky.”

Learning from the past, pouring the future

Livermore says history is essential to keeping Canadian whisky moving forward intelligently. His book, The Keeper of History, is part whisky history, part technical guide and part industry record. The book traces the evolution of Canadian whisky from the industrialization of the post-Prohibition era through to the modern distillery floor, while also unpacking the science, blending decisions and production systems that shape the category today.

“We need to preserve that knowledge, learn from our past successes and shortcomings, too, and pass that insight on to the next generation of whisky makers,” Livermore said. That philosophy shapes the way he thinks about experimentation as well. Failure is not exceptional; it is foundational.

Over the years, Livermore has experimented with grain hybrids, enzymes, yeast strains, distillation cuts, still modifications, exotic woods, barrel finishing, toasting and charring methods. Some ideas worked, some did not. But the point, he says, is that standing still is not an option. “The moment that [we do], another whisky category is going to pass us by,” he said. “We cannot stand still.” Relentless curiosity is especially important within his category because of its flexibility.

I’m not making whisky for me. I’m making it for you.

Don Livermore, Hiram Walker & Sons

Unlike American whisky regulations that subdivide categories through highly specific production requirements, Canadian whisky law remains comparatively open. Whisky must be made, distilled and aged in Canada in wooden barrels smaller than 700 litres for at least three years. Beyond that, producers are given enormous room to innovate. “Embrace that adaptability,” Livermore said. “It’s not just a regulatory advantage. That flexibility gives Canadian whisky producers creative freedom in how they distill, mature and blend whisky.”

Livermore compares Canadian whisky to paint mixing at your local hardware store. Bourbon, he explains, commits all its ingredients into one mash bill from the beginning. Canadian whisky, meanwhile, often treats grains separately – corn, rye, barley and wheat are distilled, aged and matured independently before blending. “You bring the white paint down, add your ink, shake it up and get your colour,” he said. “That’s Canadian whisky.”

The analogy also reveals how Livermore thinks as a blender. He doesn’t approach blending as a corrective or assembly step at the end of production. Rather, he sees it as architecture. Every grain, barrel and yeast strain is another variable within a larger system that can be adjusted to create different experiences. At the centre of that system sits the Canadian Whisky Flavour Wheel, the framework Livermore developed to map how flavour develops through grain, yeast and wood.

The wheel breaks Canadian whisky down into its three core flavour drivers, tracing tasting notes back to the production decisions that created them. Grain forms the foundation, with corn often contributing sweeter, lighter characteristics, while rye brings more spice and intensity. Yeast shapes the flavours developed during fermentation, producing everything from fruity esters to floral or earthy notes. Wood, meanwhile, influences the final layer through aging, barrel type, charring and maturation time.

The framework has become one of the clearest ways to understand how Livermore thinks about whisky: not as a single flavour outcome, but as a system of interconnected variables that can be adjusted, layered and rebalanced. “When I’m designing whisky, it always comes back to three spots: yeast, grain and wood,” he said.

Creating whiskies that resonate

Even after 30 years of designing whisky, Livermore still talks about the category with the enthusiasm of someone discovering it for the first time. For all his scientific depth, he repeatedly returns to one idea: whisky only matters if it resonates with people. “I’m not making whisky for me,” he said. “I’m making it for you.”

That isn’t just a sentiment. It’s something Livermore actively builds into the way he develops whisky. He regularly brings experimental whiskies to festivals and tasting events as informal research exercises, watching how people react to different flavour combinations and barrel treatments. “I call them Test and Learns,” he said. “Sometimes, I’ll put a whisky in front of people and realize, ‘Okay, this one isn’t resonating yet,’ or ‘Maybe it needs longer aging.’”

His blending seminars at the J.P. Wiser’s Brand Centre operate similarly. Consumers create their own blends, but Livermore treats the sessions as market research, too, observing which flavour profiles connect most strongly. “They get to participate in the process,” he said. “But for me, it’s also a way to understand what people are responding to and where flavour preferences are moving.”

Blending for the moment

For Livermore, the role of a master blender is shaped as much by understanding the moment surrounding a whisky as by understanding the whisky itself. Those inputs include economics, inventory availability, marketing strategy, drinking occasions, shifting consumer behaviours and global trends.

Livermore frames whisky eras almost like historical hands of cards dealt to different generations of blenders. Post-Prohibition blenders inherited scientific modernization. The 1960s and 70s were marked by explosive global growth. The 1990s demanded survival during category decline. His own era, he believes, became defined by experimentation, premiumization and adaptation during major cultural shifts, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The master blender is a reflection of what’s going on globally and culturally. They have to adapt to it,” he said. That adaptability has become especially important in today’s whisky consumption landscape, where consumers increasingly seek not only quality but also meaning and experience. Livermore believes people today are drinking less overall yet are far more intentional about what they choose and when they drink. “Making a truly excellent whisky,” he said, “is about designing meaningful experiences in life. Whether it’s a backyard barbecue, a birthday, an anniversary or a quiet moment with friends, my job is to make whiskies for those occasions.”

Few whiskies embody that idea more personally for Livermore than J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation, the limited release originally built from ideas connected to his PhD work on wood interaction. Released in 2016, only four years after he became master blender, the whisky unexpectedly won the World’s Best Blended Limited Release at the World Whiskies Awards. A decade later, consumers still ask about it.

Now, as Livermore marks 30 years in the industry, he is revisiting the concept with a new Master Blender’s Edition release that serves as a full-circle moment. “It’s been quite the ride,” he said. “Thirty years making whisky, and now I get to revisit something that was very personal to me from early in my career.” That anniversary arrives at an interesting moment for Canadian whisky. The category is more globally respected than it has been in years, as premiumization continues, experimental releases find audiences and consumers are increasingly interested in provenance, production and flavour education.

Trade pressures, tariffs and changing drinking habits continue to reshape the industry, but Livermore seems comfortable inside that uncertainty. In many ways, adaptability has become his defining lens not only for whisky but also for leadership.

For Livermore, preserving tradition is important, but he’s equally focused on protecting the conditions that allow Canadian whisky to keep evolving intelligently. “I live by the simple truth that I want to leave our whisky inventory in a better position than I found it,” he said.

A legacy of curiosity

Livermore’s story is still being written. But already, he has helped redefine what a master blender can look like: not simply a guardian of flavour consistency, but a translator between disciplines – someone capable of connecting microbiology to maturation chemistry, consumer behaviour to barrel strategy and historical preservation to future innovation.

Perhaps that’s why the infrared sensors still matter so much to him – not only because they changed production systems, but because they embody the philosophy that sits underneath everything he has done since: pay attention, understand deeply and stay curious.

You remembered the drink they made for you. You remembered the conversations. Maybe you remembered the way they greeted regulars or somehow knew exactly what you wanted before you ordered it. But outside the four walls of their bar, they were largely anonymous.

Today, a bartender can have thousands of followers, travel internationally for guest shifts, collaborate with global spirits brands and become recognizable far beyond their home city. In an industry built on personal connection, bartenders have gone from being behind-the-scenes hospitality professionals to public-facing personalities. So, when did bartenders become celebrities?

From service to spotlight

The answer lies somewhere between the cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s and the rise of social media a decade later. As consumers became increasingly interested in craft cocktails, premium spirits and the stories behind what they were drinking, bartenders began stepping into roles that extended well beyond service. They became educators, storytellers and ambassadors for a growing culture that treated cocktails with the same seriousness that food enthusiasts had long reserved for fine dining.

At the same time, the industry itself was becoming more interconnected. International competitions expanded. Cocktail conferences attracted attendees from around the world. Rankings such as The World’s 50 Best Bars became influential enough to shape tourism and media coverage. Major spirits companies invested heavily in bartender education, ambassador programs, and international travel opportunities.

For the first time, bartenders had a global stage. Then social media arrived.

The social media effect

Unlike chefs, who had long benefited from television appearances, cookbooks and mainstream media coverage, bartenders suddenly had a platform they controlled themselves. Instagram transformed cocktail culture into a highly visual medium. A drink created in Montreal could be seen in Tokyo within minutes. Techniques, recipes and ideas travelled faster than ever before.

For Kaitlyn Stewart, winner of the 2017 World Class Global Bartender of the Year title, social media helped bring bartenders into the spotlight. “I think with the rise of social media, especially in the last five years, we are seeing a shift from just having chefs and sommeliers in the forefront, to bartenders putting themselves front and center to promote not just themselves, but also their businesses,” she said.

The opportunities that followed were significant. A bartender no longer needed to spend decades building a local reputation before being noticed. Visibility could lead to speaking engagements, consulting work, brand partnerships, judging opportunities and international travel. In some cases, bartenders became destinations in their own right, attracting guests who specifically wanted to experience their cocktails. “Your social channels end up becoming part of your resume,” said Stewart.

That reality has fundamentally changed how success is measured within the industry. Twenty years ago, success was largely local. A respected bartender built a loyal clientele, earned the trust of colleagues, and perhaps became known within their city. Today, success can also mean competition titles, international recognition, brand collaborations, educational platforms and a substantial online following.

In many ways, bartending has followed a path similar to that of the culinary world. Recognition is no longer tied exclusively to a venue. Increasingly, individual personalities have become brands. Not everyone, however, believes visibility should be confused with excellence.

Visibility isn’t everything

Montreal bartender and consultant Maxime Coubès has witnessed the transformation firsthand. Like many bartenders who came of age during the industry’s rapid growth from 2010 to 2020, he benefited from an era marked by competitions, guest shifts and unprecedented opportunities for international collaboration. He credits those experiences with helping legitimize bartending as a profession and creating stronger connections between bartenders, producers and distillers around the world. At the same time, he believes the industry’s fascination with visibility sometimes overshadows the work itself.

“Social media can accelerate opportunities if you want to work with marketing, activations, agencies and brands,” he said. “But bartending has never been, and will never be, dependent on the internet.”

Bartending has never been, and will never be, dependent on the internet.

Maxime Coubès, bartender and consultant

His perspective highlights a tension that continues to shape modern hospitality. While visibility can accelerate a career, many of the industry’s most respected figures built their reputations through years of service, mentorship and consistency rather than online audiences. Reputation among guests and peers still matters, particularly within Canada’s relatively tight-knit cocktail community. Yet there is little doubt that visibility has become increasingly valuable.

Today, a bartender’s Instagram account often functions as a portfolio. Event organizers, spirits brands and employers frequently encounter someone’s online presence before they encounter their work in person. Understanding marketing, branding and content creation has become a professional advantage. The challenge is determining where visibility ends and performance begins. That question becomes particularly relevant as social media continues to blur traditional definitions of expertise.

For Quebec bartender, educator and manager Claudia Doyon, one of social media’s greatest strengths is its ability to democratize knowledge. When she entered the industry nearly 20 years ago, aspiring bartenders relied primarily on books, mentors and the experience gained on the floor. Today, techniques and educational resources are available instantly, allowing professionals to learn from colleagues around the world. But increased access has also created new complications.

As cocktail content has become increasingly popular, audiences have become exposed to a growing number of influencers operating within the drinks space. Some have successfully transformed that visibility into consulting work, event opportunities and collaborations traditionally associated with experienced hospitality professionals. The issue, Doyon argues, is not that influencers exist. Rather, it is that visibility can sometimes be mistaken for expertise.

“It is essential to maintain balance,” she said. “At the end of the day, we work in hospitality. Our passion should never be overshadowed by the desire to showcase ourselves on virtual platforms.”

Her concern reflects a broader conversation occurring throughout the industry. The rise of bartender personalities has unquestionably brought benefits. Greater visibility has elevated the profession, educated consumers and created opportunities that previous generations could scarcely have imagined. Yet celebrity culture introduces its own pressures.

The cost of being seen

Maintaining an active online presence requires time and energy in an industry already known for long hours and burnout. The pressure to remain visible can sometimes feel relentless, particularly for younger bartenders trying to establish themselves. There is also the question of what happens when personal branding becomes more important than teamwork.

Your social channels end up becoming part of your resume.

Kaitlyn Stewart, bartender

Doyon notes that recognition can inspire others and bring positive attention to the profession. As a manager, however, she has also witnessed situations where image began to outweigh collaboration. Hospitality remains a collective effort, and the strongest bars are rarely built around a single individual. The same tension appears in conversations surrounding competitions, rankings and guest shifts. Over the past decade, these platforms have become increasingly influential in defining success. They create opportunities, generate publicity and encourage innovation. Yet they can also create hierarchies that do not necessarily reflect the guest experience.

Coubès believes some aspects of modern cocktail culture have become overly focused on visibility and optics. “The best bar is simply the bar where you feel good, where the bartender becomes a friend,” he said. It is a deceptively simple statement, but one that speaks to a larger shift currently taking place across the industry.

Back to hospitality

After years of celebrating technical innovation and increasingly elaborate cocktail programs, many bartenders are returning to fundamentals. Guests are looking for experiences rather than performances. They want connection as much as they want creativity. In that sense, the industry’s future may look surprisingly similar to its past. The irony is that while bartenders have never been more visible, the qualities that define a great bartender have remained remarkably unchanged.

A strong social media presence may open doors. A competition title may attract attention. A guest shift in Singapore or London may expand a network. But none of those achievements guarantee the one thing guests actually experience when they sit down at a bar: hospitality. This sentiment is clear in Stewart, Coubès, and Doyon, despite their differing perspectives. Each acknowledged the opportunities that visibility has created. Each recognized the value of broader recognition for the profession. Yet all ultimately returned to the same principle: the work itself still matters most.

Bartenders may have become public figures. Some have become educators, consultants, ambassadors and entrepreneurs. Others have built audiences that extend far beyond their home cities. But behind every award, every ranking, every viral cocktail video and every international guest shift is still a person standing across from a guest, trying to create a memorable experience.

Bartending has finally earned the recognition many believe it deserves. The challenge now is ensuring that the spotlight never becomes more important than the people sitting on the other side of the bar.

In November, the prestigious Siebel Institute of Technology brewing school announced that it will relocate from Chicago to Montreal. In a press release, the school confirmed the move was effective Jan. 1, 2026, but didn’t provide a date for when classes would begin at its new location.

The Siebel Institute is the oldest brewing school in North America. It was founded by German-born chemist John Ewald Siebel, Ph.D., in Chicago in 1868. It was originally known as the John E. Siebel Chemical Laboratory before being renamed the Siebel Institute in 1872, and it has called Chicago home since its opening.

The new location will be at 3035 rue Sainte-Catherine near the former Molson Brewery site in downtown Montreal. That site is part of a planned $2.5 billion redevelopment aimed at revitalizing the city’s downtown core, which will also include a public park and waterfront walkway, retail spaces and some 5,000 new housing units. Siebel Institute, which is owned by Lallemand Inc., cited changes in the brewing industry, rising operational costs and challenges obtaining student visas to enter the U.S. as reasons for the move.

“Recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made it much more challenging for many of our international students, who have become the majority of our student body, to attend classes in person. This relocation of North America classroom operations to Montreal allows us to pivot without sacrificing the student experience,” Siebel Institute’s general manager and director of education, John Hannafan, said in the news release.

Montreal’s brewing industry reacts

Philippe Roy, vice-president of Beer Canada for Montreal, says he was pleasantly surprised to learn Siebel Institute was relocating to Montreal. Neither he nor his organization had any advance knowledge of the move.

He says he has seen two reactions from those in the industry. “The first was to say that it’s very good news…. It’s the oldest school for beer in North America, so their coming to Canada seemed to send a message that brewing in Canada is going well. But at the same time, we all felt that it was kind of normal … because we all feel that Quebec and Montreal are the cradle of beer in North America.

“In Canada, beer is still the number one alcohol beverage that people consume. We feel it’s a special beverage that can define Canada so we’re very happy about the Siebel Institute coming and joining us here in Montreal,” said Roy.

We’ll have access to high-quality training, and that will benefit all brewers in Canada.

Philippe Roy, Beer Canada

Marie-Eve Myrand, executive director of the Quebec Microbrewery Association, says she, too, was surprised to learn about Siebel Institute’s move. “We were not part of the decision or the discussion around that, but we were pleased to be informed,” said Myrand, whose organization lobbies government, promotes the brewing industry and provides production support to member brewers. “It’s a very prestigious institute.”

Myrand says the addition of the Siebel Institute to Montreal’s brewing landscape will help to make up for the recent loss of the brewing sciences certificate program at Bishop’s University.

The Bishop’s program was established by chemistry professor Dale Wood in 2015 and offered a graduate opportunity that blended chemistry, creativity and entrepreneurship. During its time, the program and its students helped develop more than 500 recipes, several of which were in partnership with Quebec-based microbreweries.

While it’s difficult to determine what kind of economic impact Siebel Institute’s move to Montreal might have on the city, Roy predicts it could have a huge effect on the brewing ecosystem, not only in Quebec, but across the country. “We’ll have access to high-quality training, and that will benefit all brewers in Canada. We already have schools that offer brewers education, but having one more, and one more here in Montreal, that’s giving brewers new access to highly qualified people [who] are going to work in their breweries,” he said.

It’s always good news for brewers to have an opportunity to improve knowledge and be at the top of the best practices.

Marie-Eve Myrand, Quebec Microbrewery Association

Myrand says the move will benefit brewers in Quebec and other parts of the country by creating a larger pool of talent to draw from. “It’s going to be very exciting,” she said. “It’s always good news for brewers to have an opportunity to improve knowledge and be at the top of the best practices. I think there will now be more opportunities for brewers to be part of that kind of improvement.”

Roy says he hopes to speak with someone from the school soon to work out the details of a scholarship that Beer Canada is looking to offer to students there. He is also anxious to learn more about the academic programming Siebel Institute will offer once its Montreal campus is up and running.

“I’m sure they’re going to want to adapt. It’s the same product, it’s still beer, but the Canadian way is a little bit different than what we see in the U.S. brewing industry, so I’m sure they intend to adapt their information to being in Canada,” he said.

Myrand is also curious about how Siebel Institute will adapt to its new surroundings, especially regarding the province’s language laws. “A good beer is a good beer. But being in business in Montreal, I think it’s mandatory to have an offering in French. It’s a very personal opinion, and not the association’s position, but I would find it [difficult] to have just an English version of all the information,” she said.

A patchwork market, not a national one

“Every province runs on its own system [of beverage trade], with different fees, tax structures, listing requirements and even different label regulations,” said Ontario’s Laneway Distillers founder and co-CEO Jessica Chester. “This fragmented approach creates significant cost and administrative burden for suppliers.”

For beverage producers, the challenges of getting their products to local markets, let alone out-of-province ones, are frustrating. “Depending on the province, the system can be prohibitive. In many cases, customers can simply choose to order directly from another province and ignore the provincial regulation. There is no free trade of beverage alcohol in Canada, and direct-to-consumer sales across provincial borders remain highly restricted on paper,” she said.

As producers of quality spirits, including several varieties of artisanal vodka and gin, Laneway Distillers is proud to source its ingredients from across Canada. However, Chester does not hold back in expressing her frustrations upon seeing Laneway on store shelves in other provinces. “The federal government did not include alcohol and food in its push for interprovincial free trade, once again costing billions in lost domestic trade and limiting opportunities for local producers,” Chester said.

New doors, same red tape

“When the gatekeepers at the grocery stores finally relaxed the rules, that was a real opening – that grocery channel,” said Chris Warwaruk. As co-founder, co-owner and now vice-president of sales at Farmery Estate Brewing in Neepawa, Man., Warwaruk has seen many changes in the trade and the associated barriers, both within Manitoba and beyond its borders, particularly in Ontario.

With a vast selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in its portfolio, Warwaruk and Farmery Estate Brewery have always sought to expand into markets beyond its home base. “Looking at Ontario, we saw how the [Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)and its associated provincial liquor store retailers]’s Beer Store handcuffed themselves by limiting the sales of out-of-province products. This was before COVID-19, and we were the first craft brewery to enter the Ontario market.”

Many Ontarians and British Columbians recall the mid-2010s as the first time grocery stores were able to sell beer and wine on their shelves. Albertans saw their liquor sales move to a privatized model as early as 1993. While this brought some satisfaction to consumers in terms of new availability and accessibility, beverage producers were often confronted with new rules and regulations when moving their products into Ontario.

“If you are a smaller beverage producer in one province and have to deal with a tariff on your grain producer for the beverage itself going to another province, it will affect your decision and ability to send that product to the next province. That’s what we saw with Ontario. Saskatchewan had fewer barriers and was more of a wide-open market. These smaller rules and costs hurt provincial trade and Canada as a whole,” he said.

Warwaruk’s engagement with interprovincial regulation has given him a clear understanding of the Canadian beverage industry overall. He views it as a large economic system that has the potential to thrive more if the right opportunity arises. “It’s about easier trade. We are trying to stimulate the economy and give choices to those who like our products. Whenever you add … these interprovincial taxes and tariffs, there’s more added burden. Overall, if there was more governmental reception to interprovincial trade, there would be more trade,” he said.

The fine print of crossing provinces

Like Warwaruk, co-founder and brand director of The Craft Brand Company, Michael Laba, has kept a close eye on interprovincial barriers for the beverage trade.

While The Craft Brand Company began as an agency importing international craft beers into Ontario over a decade ago, Laba has handled many related trade issues through international product offerings and by adhering to regulatory requirements. It’s a balancing act that involves specifics, intricacies, fine print and a checklist of duties, right down to the product’s label.

It is costly and extremely slow to move product across Canada, whether by rail or truck, and each provincial liquor board operates under a different system. The lack of consistency and efficiency makes national distribution unnecessarily complex and burdensome for suppliers.

Jessica Chester, Laneway Distillers

“Any product coming in [to Ontario] needs to be label compliant,” he said. “For example, it requires English and French text, it must have an accurate ingredient or allergen list and it has to be registered and ordered by the LCBO.”

Laba emphasizes the importance of partnership in beverage logistics as a way to overcome some interprovincial trade challenges faced by Canadian beverage producers. “What we’ve seen is that [beverage producers] would also need a reliable and licensed freight partner,” Laba said. “A good freight partner with the right staff would be key to helping move your product across provinces, [getting] it in clients’ hands and [helping] you be competitively priced on the shelf.”

Beverage producers owe it to themselves to stay up to date on changes to provincial beverage regulations, new statutes and industry communications. Laba has been monitoring the regulatory changes occurring within the province that could have an impact. On April 1, the LCBO moved to a wholesale pricing model to streamline pricing for wholesale beverages. “… the hope is that it will create a competitive retail landscape without additional mark-ups to suppliers or consumers,” Laba said.

Where the lines should fall next

Some beverage producers take a firm stance on addressing Canada’s interprovincial trade barriers for their products. “Dismantle the regulations as soon as possible,” Warwaruk said. “Policy-makers need to support businesses, and if we get away from all the regulations, taxes and related obstacles, there will not only be more Canadian product options, but non-Canadian ones as well.”

Chester emphasizes the importance of easing regulatory financial burdens on smaller beverage producers and improving interprovincial liquor board relations. “It is costly and extremely slow to move product across Canada, whether by rail or truck, and each provincial liquor board operates under a different system. The lack of consistency and efficiency makes national distribution unnecessarily complex and burdensome for suppliers,” she said.

With so many localities producing prize-winning beverages, Laba says regulators and policy professionals should always keep fundamental practices and observations in mind. “Craft brewers are 10 per cent of the marketplace and employ 80 per cent of brewing jobs,” he said. “Any time a craft brewer can make more, there are more jobs and a better community economy. Reducing the barriers would be good for producers and communities all around.”

While the team will hopefully give their fans in the stands plenty of on-ice reasons to celebrate, they may also want to raise a glass to toast the suds in their cup. True North Sports + Entertainment, the hockey club’s parent company, recently installed a new, state-of-the-art treatment system to clean the lines that supply those tasty suds to the more than 300 beer taps located throughout the downtown Winnipeg entertainment venue.

The system, known as Draught Guard, is manufactured by a Milwaukee-based company of the same name. It uses a proprietary water treatment technology originally developed for the oil and gas industry to manage mineral fouling and biological growth and is now in use at health-care facilities, power plants and Fortune 100 companies across North America.

How it works is relatively simple. A control unit measuring five by seven inches connects to a signal transformer ring that is seven inches in diameter and wraps around the outside of up to 12 beer lines, which supply suds to the beer taps. The small unit emits a low-frequency radio signal throughout the entire line regardless of its length. The system then works in the background 24/7 to prevent the buildup of biofilm and calcium oxalate (beer stone) and provide protection of the product being served on tap.

What we do is we actually send that radio frequency into the beer itself. We use the conductivity of that beer to move the signal. That signal will follow the conductivity, the beer, the water, whatever is in that line, as far as it’s going.

Jackson Cosgriff, Draught Guard

Jackson Cosgriff, business development manager for the company, describes the Draught Guard unit as a “fancy a.m. radio” in terms of how it functions.

“What we do is we actually send that radio frequency into the beer itself. We use the conductivity of that beer to move the signal. That signal will follow the conductivity, the beer, the water, whatever is in that line, as far as its going,” he said. “Wherever there’s fluid, the signal will follow. That means downstream to the taps and the beer tower, and upstream to the keg as well. What that does is it makes it difficult for bacteria, biofilm, mould [and] mineral scale to actually adhere (inside the line). We’re putting a charge on all the particles that are in there and kind of making them behave. We make it difficult for that microbial activity to thrive and cling to the beer lines.”

Although the technology used in Draught Guard has been around for some time, it wasn’t until fairly recently that the parent company that developed it began to look at how it could be used in other industries, including the beer industry.

Draught Guard was launched in 2018, and soon after, the company began working with several major sports stadiums, breweries and brewing institutes to analyze and test how the product could work with draught beer. Several studies were conducted, including one commissioned by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers through the University of Pittsburgh that showed a 98 per cent reduction of biofilm. It remains the only non-chemical system to have passed to date.

Cosgriff and director of business development Kevin Brauer say the beauty of the Draught Guard system is that it can dramatically reduce the amount of time and money users spend on cleaning draught lines compared to the traditional method of flushing a caustic or alkaline chemical through the line using water and a recirculating pump. The chemical cleaning method requires users to clean their draught lines every two weeks.

By comparison, those same lines need only be cleaned every 12 weeks using the Draught Guard technology. That means far less beer has to be dumped (about 85 per cent less) when the lines need to be cleaned and staff can be deployed to other tasks. There’s also a huge sustainability component to Draught Guard, Brauer says. As the lines using the system only need to be chemically cleaned four times a year compared to 26 using more traditional methods, far less beer, chemicals and CO2 are being dumped into the sewer system.

Best of all, the radio frequency Draught Guard uses has no impact on the composition of the beer going through the draught lines. If anything, it helps to preserve the original flavour profile of the beer that is being poured. “Draught Guard will not have any effect on the inherent flavour or nature of that beer. There’s no vibration. There’s no actual changing of the technical chemistry of the beer,” Cosgriff said, adding that a draught system’s taps and couplers, which attach to kegs, must still be routinely cleaned since they come into contact with oxygen. “Basically, it allows the beer to taste more like itself and not become degraded because of biofilm and beer stone that might clog the line.”

Chris Milton, senior manager of logistics and procurement for True North, says his company first learned about Draught Guard during a conversation with the food and beverage team at Madison Square Garden in New York. They did some follow-up investigations and were so impressed by what they learned they hired Draught Guard to install 32 units at Canada Life Centre in July 2025.

“Having over 300 beer taps throughout the building, we thought it would be the perfect addition to our already extensive beer line cleaning schedule,” he said. “Cleaning the beer lines is a process all in itself, and by installing Draught Guard, we maintain the highest quality possible when it comes to the product we are serving our guests. We are always looking to enhance and elevate our patrons’ experience for every event they attend, and we are excited to say that our draft beer system is continuing that process even after the Winnipeg Jets have left the ice, the concert has loaded out, the staff have gone home and the lights are turned off.”

Canada Life Centre is one of two high-profile Canadian sports venues to turn to Draught Guard. The company has also been working with the team at Rogers Centre, home to Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, where its system has been installed at a growing number of bars and concessions stands.

The Draught Guard system is relatively easy to set up, regardless of the size of the venue where it is being installed. The control unit can be mounted on nearly any wall or surface near where the draught lines run. The only caveat is that it must be near a power source where it can be plugged in. The unit is then connected via a cord to the signal transformer ring that wraps around the draught lines to send the radio signal through the line and is secured in place with a hose clamp. Each unit takes about 15 minutes to install.

“We don’t actually have to cut or splice or remove any of the existing infrastructure. Any retrofit application, which is a majority of what we do, we install onto existing draft systems, like we did at Canada Life Centre,” Cosgriff said, adding the only challenging part of the installation process can sometimes be the organization of any excess cord.

In the case of Canada Life Centre, it took less than eight hours to install all 32 Draught Guard units required to complete the job. Brauer and his crew have nothing but positive things to say about their experience of working with the team at True North. “They were great: very prompt, timely and they didn’t waste time, which was very much appreciated on our end,” he said. “They were also very enthusiastic. It kind of goes without saying we want to work with people who want our product. It goes to show when they’re just as excited, if not more excited than we are to show up and to do the install, that’s a good thing. They’re trying to increase and bolster the fan experience, and they definitely saw value in our product.”

Milton says True North has been pleased with how the Draught Guard system has performed to date, adding it requires very little attention outside of regularly checking its monitors to ensure it’s performing the way it’s supposed to.

“Since the initial install we haven’t had any issues when it comes to the equipment, and all of the 32 units in the building have worked flawlessly with no breakdowns or interruptions to our daily operation,” he said. “We have some beer lines in the building that are travelling over 300 feet from the beer keg cooler to the taps, and the Draught Guard system works perfectly with these long runs. Also, by extending the line cleaning, we are using [fewer] chemicals to clean the insides of the beer lines, which is great for the environment as well.”

Cosgriff and Brauer are both excited about Draught Guard’s potential for continued growth. The company has entered into a partnership with Perlick, one of North America’s largest beverage refrigeration and dispensing companies, that will see Draught Guard installed in all new Perlick manufactured draught beer systems. They also see plenty of opportunity for the company to expand its footprint in terms of the Canada draught beer landscape.

“We would love to,” Cosgriff said, laughing. “Draught beer is extremely popular in Canada, just as it is down here in the States and with keg costs being that much higher in Canada, it’s certainly an opportunity where we can provide that much more value. We’re exploring a couple of different routes of distribution and partners that we can work with, and that’s definitely something we’re aiming towards.”

Interlake Brewing Company offers a range of craft beers and runs a popular brewpub in Gimli, about 90 kilometres north of Winnipeg in Manitoba’s Interlake region. Located a stone’s throw away from Lake Winnipeg, business at the brewpub is always brisk during summer, but less so during the winter months, as one could expect in a tourist beach town like Gimli.

The young married couple who owns Interlake Brewing, Graeme Maclean and Kristin MacCary, have come up with innovative ways to embrace winter, not only to bolster their business, but also to help support their community. This includes seasonal beverage offerings, fun activities like outdoor curling and tapping into Gimli’s reputation as an ice-fishing mecca.

“The advice we got when we first opened was just close down in the winter, like what a lot of businesses here still do. We don’t want to do that. We want to be part of the community all year long, just like many of our customers,” said MacCary. “Winter is longer than summer, so we really need to lean into the off-season. Offering community-driven events and experiences and giving people something to do, not just something to eat or drink, is a huge component of our business that people here need in the winter.”

Rooftop attractions

One of those experiences has been outdoor milk jug curling, a winter activity where frozen milk containers replace curling stones on a sheet of ice. Last winter, MacCary and Maclean decided to keep the brewpub’s rooftop patio open year-round and built a small ice sheet for customers willing to give milk jug curling a try. To ensure their safety, patrons didn’t step onto the ice itself, but instead either tossed the milk jugs or pushed them out with a broom. The curling proved to be a big hit with patrons.

“We definitely had a lot of people coming in just to check it out, and they had a blast,” said Maclean. “People were saying, ‘Well, there’s nothing more Canadian than curling above a brewery next to a frozen lake.’” The curious included out-of-town tourists, many of them avid ice fishers from south of the border. “People who perhaps didn’t have any experience curling were interested in trying it, and this was a way for them to kind of see what it’s about in a fun, relaxed way,” said MacCary.

The patio at Interlake Brewing also featured some novel ice bars constructed out of winter snow accumulating on the rooftop. “We had quite a bit of snow last season, so we were able to push it around and sculpt it into a few different things,” said Maclean. “We placed several of them around the roof, so people could stand and socialize in different areas up there.”

The ice bars were a convenient place for patrons to set their food and drink while trying milk jug curling or just taking in the view of the interesting goings-on on nearby Lake Winnipeg. “You’re overlooking the lake and see a village of ice fishing shacks on the ice and lots of snowmobiles whizzing around and all that stuff. It’s just a really nice atmosphere,” said Maclean.

The outdoor patio attracted folks angling for pickerel underneath the ice as well as snowmobilers traversing trails on the frozen lake. “We are in a prime location for them to hop off the ice and come in to get a drink or a snack and warm up for a bit before they go back out,” MacCary said, adding many snowmobilers opted for the rooftop because it meant they didn’t have to remove their heavy gear. “Especially on a nice day, if they’re dressed for it, they almost preferred to just eat outside,” she said.

Interlake Brewing is keeping its rooftop patio going again this winter and plans to create the curling rink again, weather permitting. Like last year, the patio features a heated covered area as well as heated washrooms to help keep customers comfortable. Maclean says frigid winter weather common on the Prairies can make it challenging to operate an outdoor venue, which is why the rooftop patio was only open during milder periods last season.

“It gets to be pretty complicated, with the weather the way it is. If it’s going to be brutally cold, there’s not a whole lot we can do,” said Maclean. “In winter, you have to be flexible and ready to adapt. That could mean moving furniture around or bringing in extra staff, if the weather suddenly improves and it turns out to be a gorgeous day.” MacCary added, “You can’t really trust the weather predictions, so we always have a backup plan.”

Leaning into ice fishing

Interlake Brewing’s strategy of embracing winter also involves ice fishing, a strong ecotourism attraction that seems to grow every year as Gimli’s reputation for fishing excellence spreads.

“It’s a lot of locals who’ve been doing it out there a very long time mixed with a lot of travellers, people from the United States or other parts of Manitoba or other provinces, coming in and experiencing some of the best ice fishing you’ll find,” said Maclean. All those people and their ice fishing shacks form a veritable village out on the ice, complete with cleared ice roads and road signs.

“We have some time on our hands in the winter. It’s not like the summer, where it’s go, go, go. We were brainstorming some ways to have some fun [in] the winter. Curling was one, and ice fishing is just such an obvious complementary opportunity for us,” said Maclean. “In the winter, it really is the fishing that keeps this place moving. Foot traffic in February would be pretty much non-existent if ice fishing wasn’t such a major component of the culture here,” said MacCary.

People were saying, ‘Well, there’s nothing more Canadian than curling above a brewery next to a frozen lake.’

Graeme Maclean, Interlake Brewing

Maclean and MacCary started catering to the ice fishing industry in earnest last winter, when they chose to set up a place where people could buy bait and other supplies. “We opened a retail store in January and had live minnows for sale. That was a new product that we were able to offer, realizing what a boon the ice fishing brings to this town and us being in a position where we are the closest business to the ice offering live minnows,” said MacCary.

“As soon as the word got out, people were coming in at all hours looking to get minnows from us. We also sold hot coffee, fresh sandwiches, snacks and basic fishing gear that people could grab on their way out to the lake.” Maclean and MacCary also decided to use the business’s branded minivan to deliver provisions right out to the ice fishing village. “Everybody seemed to really appreciate the fresh food. It added to their experience to get hot, beer-battered pickerel while they’re fishing for pickerel,” said MacCary.

“We think it’s this kind of stuff that is really authentic to this place in particular.” Maclean added, “Lake Winnipeg is one of the biggest sources of pickerel in the country, so it’s been really fun to highlight that in our menu.” The brewpub will be among the local vendors providing food and drink offerings during Gimli Ice Fest, an annual event held the first weekend of March that celebrates the community’s culture and distinctive approach to winter.

Interlake Brewing continues to look at ways to expand its winter-centred offerings. One is setting up its own branded ice fishing shack for the season and utilizing it during Gimli Ice Fest and other key weekends. Another is a “Winterlake Weekend” event was planned for January to feature fun activities, live music and food and drink specials. “Think of it as a chalet party, Manitoba-style,” said MacCary.

Interlake Brewing recently purchased the building where it was leasing space for its brewpub. It includes a three-bedroom residential suite, which Maclean and MacCary plan to use as an Airbnb rental unit, enabling the business to continue growing its brand while expanding its offerings. “It’s perfect for families and groups, and we will be creating packages that include the ice shack rental, brewery tour, etc. We have lots of big plans on the horizon now that we have control of the building,” said MacCary.

Winter sports like hockey are another important aspect of Gimli’s culture, with large contingents of players, coaches and parents regularly descending on the community to participate in tournaments. MacCary and Maclean strive to tap into that by getting the word out to teams and parents that their brewpub, with its ample space, family-friendly atmosphere and wide diversity of food and drink offerings, is a great place in town to come and eat.

Building partnerships

Interlake Brewing’s owners believe there is strength in numbers, which is why they’ve been busy forming partnerships with other Gimli businesses aiming to make the most of winter. The goal is to provide more events and attractions that benefit residents and visitors alike once the summer crowds dissipate. MacCary, who recently joined the board of the Gimli Chamber of Commerce, says one example is a pub crawl following the town’s annual Christmas parade in December that she helped organize.

“It hasn’t been done before, and it’s something I think the other bars may have been reluctant to do in the past. We thought, there are five bars in town, so why not do a pub crawl and get everyone involved?” said MacCary. “By collaborating this way, we can all benefit. I see a lot more potential for that happening in the future. I think we’re all really excited about pumping business up in the off-season.”

The advice we got when we first opened was just close down in the winter, like what a lot of businesses here still do. We don’t want to do that. We want to be part of the community all year long, just like many of our customers.

Kristin MacCary, Interlake Brewing

Interlake Brewing emphasizes local ingredients in its beer-making, and in November, it teamed up with some like-minded craft breweries for the inaugural Forage Fest, an event hosted by the brewpub aimed at boosting winter tourism in Gimli. For the event, Maclean and MacCary, and seven of their brewing industry friends, showcased beers inspired by and including flavourful ingredients that can be foraged in Manitoba, like spruce tips, highbush cranberries, chaga mushrooms, saskatoon berries, dill and others.

“I think it’s good for the craft beverage industry, but it’s also good for the town because it’s bringing in a lot of people who perhaps only think about Gimli as a summer town and don’t think about it as having a lot going on otherwise,” said MacCary. “People seem pretty excited about it. We can see how it could grow in the future into being a full weekend event and maybe getting some other businesses to lean into this theme as well.”

Like many craft breweries, Interlake Brewing produces seasonal beer offerings that broaden taste experiences for their customers. Night Walk, a porter introduced last winter, is on tap once again, and Maclean and MacCary are also hoping to unveil a new strong, dark Scottish ale befitting the season later this winter.

The brewpub also offers a slate of classic warming cocktails, such as apple cider with cinnamon whisky, or hot chocolate or coffee with Irish cream liqueur, for customers coming in from the cold.

Poured Canada spoke with five Canadian colleges and universities about the different educational opportunities they offer for those interested in a career in the beverage-alcohol industry. Here’s what they had to say.

Brock University

The Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute was established at Ontario’s Brock University in 1996. The institute was formed in conjunction with the southern Ontario wine industry. Its three main mandates are to conduct research, provide outreach services to the local wine industry, and offer professional and continuing educational opportunities.

As part of its educational program, the institute offers more than 20 professional and continuing studies courses for people who want to enter the industry or upgrade their skills. These short-term courses, accredited through the province with micro-credential certification, range from foundations in winemaking, introduction to grape growing and using effective social media in marketing wines.

Additionally, Brock offers Canada’s only four-year university degree program in Applied Grape and Wine Science through its Department of Biological Sciences that focuses on winemaking, viticulture and marketing, including subjects such as wine chemistry and plant physiology.

For students with prior scientific training with a bachelor of science in a related field, a one-year certificate in grape and wine technology is also an option, where students take grape and wine-specific courses to be industry-ready. Both program options serve upwards of three dozen students in any given school year with a 96 per cent placement rate of graduates into the industry upon graduation.

Jennifer Kelly, the institute’s senior scientist of oenology, says part of what makes the school’s four-year degree program unique is the fact it’s been designed to be very hands-on. After gaining background education in relevant scientific disciplines such as chemistry and environmental biology in Years 1 and 2, students are given their own grapes as part of a wine processing course in which they will take those grapes from vine to wine. That includes everything from planning how they want to make their wine at the institute’s pilot winery to designing a label and bottling the finished product.

The institute also offers a co-op education stream as part of its four-year degree program, where students are provided three four-month work terms at wineries in the region and other parts of the country. “Students at the fourth-year thesis level get to engage in applied research projects, often partnered with industry members. The experience of solving real-world problems gives them an opportunity to work with different growers or winemakers. That sets them up for great success going forward with their careers,” Kelly said.

The institute’s first graduating class was in 2000. While many of those students have gone on to succeed in southern Ontario, British Columbia and other parts of Canada, a large number are now employed in other parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand and across the U.S. The best part, Kelly says, is that it’s a tight-knit group and they often share industry opportunities with fellow alumni.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) Brewing Program was launched in 2014. Hundreds of its graduates have gone on to work in the craft brewing industry in southern B.C., where the school is based, as well as in other parts of the country and around the world. The program accommodates up to 35 students per school year. The majority come from B.C., but the program also attracts learners from other parts of the country and even as far away as Switzerland, South America and Asia. They range in age from 19 to 60 years-plus.

Students receive a diploma in brewing and brewery operations as part of a two-year, full-time program or a three- or four-year, part-time program. The school also offers a one-year certificate program in brewing as well as micro-credential courses on subjects such as brewing science, beer sensory evaluation and the business of brewing, which are popular with people working in the industry seeking to upgrade their existing skills. The three foundational pillars of the program are: to provide students with the hands-on skills needed to work in a brewery, to teach them the science behind brewing, and to furnish them with the foundational information needed to operate or own a brewery.

Alek Egi, program chair and brewing instructor at KPU, says one of the things that makes the school’s brewing program unique is the emphasis it places on the science of brewing. The school has rigorous science-based requirements for student applicants. Meanwhile, instructors Egi and Dominic Bernard have master’s degrees in food science and brewing, respectively, while colleague Martina Solano Bielen holds a master’s in microbiology.

Another factor that sets the KPU brewing program apart is its standalone, registered manufacturing brewery located right on campus that was designed for teaching. It features a state-of-the-art, four-vessel pilot system that was donated by a local brewing equipment manufacturer, giving students the opportunity to work directly with professional-grade tools. It’s also home to a tap station, where the finished products from the program’s practical brewing courses are sold by students to customers every Friday afternoon, providing real-world experience in both production and customer-service aspects of the industry.

Kwantlen’s program has received numerous accolades from the brewing industry, including multiple B.C. Beer Awards and being named Brewery of the Year in 2019. It also won the U.S. Open college beer competition that same year.

Acadia University

Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., launched its Applied Bioscience program in fall 2024. A total of 12 students are currently enrolled in the program, and school officials expect that number to double in 2026. Students receive a bachelor of science upon graduation from the four-year degree program. Matthew Lukeman, an assistant dean and a professor of chemistry, says the program is a mix of biology and chemistry that aims to provide students with real-world work experience and research opportunities in the beverage industry as well as the biopharma sector.

“The program was actually created in response to economic demands within our province in two sectors,” he said. “One was beverage, not just wine, but also beer, craft drinks and all sorts of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. People from industry had been coming to us over the years, saying they would love it if we could have a program that would help people develop the skills that would aid in fuelling the growth of that industry.”

If you think of the top wineries in the province … like Stratus, Tawse, Inniskillin, these are all run by graduates of ours.

Craig Youdale, Niagara College

The program’s Science and Business of Beverage stream emphasizes beverage production, marketing and analysis. There is a heavy focus on biochemistry and organic chemistry, including cell and molecular biology. An embedded business minor provides students with an appreciation for the business realities that go along with the science side of things and includes a minimum of six courses in various business disciplines, such as marketing and accounting.

Part of what makes Acadia’s program unique is its built-in co-op placement component, Lukeman says. Students receive up to 12 months of co-op placements at local vineyards and craft breweries, where they work alongside experienced industry professionals to gain practical experience. They get to work side-by-side with researchers at the university on a variety of projects, including a study of grape varieties and chemical analysis of different wine products. The program also offers a course on sensory analysis, which is taught through the university’s Nutrition and Dietetics department. As part of the course, students learn how the different components of a wine can influence an individual’s sensory experience.

In addition to the Applied Bioscience program, the university is home to the Acadia Laboratory for Agri-Food and Beverage (ALAB), which is an ISO-accredited, fee-for-service lab that provides chemical testing of beverage products. Each school year, the lab employs three co-op students who receive an opportunity to work with the lab’s three technicians using an array of state-of-the-art instruments.

“What’s unique about it is that in bigger labs, the students often only ever work on one instrument. But in our lab, because it’s so small, most students have the opportunity to work with and be trained on ALAB’s instruments,” said Katrin Sommerfeld, Acadia’s manager of industry and community partnerships.

Niagara College

Niagara College’s School of Wine, Beer and Spirits is located on the institution’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. About 100 students take part in the program’s three disciplines each academic year. It has the distinction of being one of the first academic institutions in Canada to offer training specifically for the beverage-alcohol industry.

The school’s three core programs are its two-year Winery and Viticulture Technician program, the two-year Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program and the one-year Graduate Certificate in Artisan Distilling program. It also offers a one-year Beverage Business Management certificate program that provides an education on all aspects of the global alcoholic beverage industry, including business, retail, export, marketing and navigating a highly regulated environment.

Each of the three core programs has its own commercial production facility located on the university’s 125-acre campus. That includes:

• The Niagara College Teaching Winery, which was established in 2000 and offers students a chance to learn from industry. professionals and create up to 5,000 bottles of wine annually.
• The Niagara Teaching Brewery, a 1,500-square-foot micro-brewery facility.
• The Niagara Teaching Distillery, a 2,500-square-foot facility that features five stills, four mash tins and 10 fermenters used for on-site production of a variety of distilled spirits that produces 500 bottles of spirits each year.

The school is also home to a 40-acre, on-campus vineyard. In addition, it grows its own botanicals, hops and tender fruit for use in its distilling and brewing programs. Craig Youdale, the college’s dean of culinary, tourism and beverage, says what makes the School of Wine, Beer and Spirits unique is the fact that it provides students an opportunity to be involved in every aspect of production, from growing the grapes used in wine production and hops used in brewing to bottling the finished products and creating marketing campaigns for them.

“They are all really unique programs,” he said. “There aren’t any others in the country … like them that have the level of hands-on education. When I say hands-on, it’s the real deal. We’re even showing people how to drive a tractor.”

The school has also developed close relationships with several wineries, breweries and distilleries in the region and other parts of the country. That includes Labatt Brewing and Molson Coors on the beer side, and several of the most respected wineries in the region. As a result, students in the program are regularly placed at those facilities where they receive valuable, first-hand experience that can help propel their careers down the road.

“It’s actually pretty tough to find a winery in Niagara that doesn’t have one of our grads,” Youdale said. “If you think of the top wineries in the province … like Stratus, Tawse, Inniskillin, these are all run by graduates of ours. We have tons of graduates that have started their own brewery and they’re owner-operators. We also have a lot of head brewers in different operations across the system.”

Youdale says one of the school’s future priorities will be providing more people access to its programs. That could include opening it up to more people from other parts of the country as well as offering some form of online programming. Beverage Business Management is expected to become an online offering in 2026. Several courses within the School of Wine, Beer and Spirits are also open to part-time students – including Wines of Europe, Wines of the Americas and Southern Hemisphere, and History of Brewing and Beer for the Winter 2026 term.

Durham College

Durham College’s Whitby campus in southern Ontario is home to the Centre for Craft Beverage Innovation (CCBI), which collaborates with both established and novice craft beer, hard cider, kombucha and seltzer makers on everything from formulating new recipes to testing new ingredients and production methods. The centre’s mandate is to share its technical knowledge with beverage makers and provide entrepreneurial expertise to help industry partners turn technical innovation into business success.

Even though the CCBI is located on a college campus, it’s not a brewing school per se. Most of the people who work at the centre are paid staff. However, a small number of Durham students do take part in research projects at the centre each year. Those students receive instructions on lab protocols and how to conduct proper testing. The idea is to provide them with hands-on experience so they can learn to interpret test results.

With hands-on training, strong industry partnerships and impressive graduate placement rates, one thing is clear: the path to a career in beverage alcohol increasingly begins in the classroom.

For many craft producers, that surface-level appeal feels like the whole game: get the label right and the rest will follow. But according to Tim Weaver, U.K.-based branding strategist, founder of The Brand Weaver and host of the “Branding for Breweries” podcast, that mindset is the exact trap holding many alcohol companies back.

“The well-known quote that ‘your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room’ is accurate,” Weaver said. “It’s not just your logo or a label. Your brand is how you integrate into someone’s life, how you amplify it and how you reinforce their identity. When you get branding right, grabbing your product at a barbecue or a family dinner becomes second nature. It’s just the piece of the puzzle that fits.”

More than meets the label

In practice, branding means creating a sense of place for your product in a consumer’s life so it feels like the obvious choice in any given moment. While that does include tangible items like your label or packaging, it also extends into every branch of your business: your social media, your messaging, even the way you interact with customers. Your branding shapes how your target audience perceives your company in the first place and reinforces that perception at every turn. Branding is your most powerful differentiator in a competitive market and it’s a strong influencer of customer loyalty.

That’s a lot more than a label, so how do you actually do it? When Weaver works with a producer to define what encompasses the brand, he starts with what he calls a “point of truth.” That truth is the only thing that can hold a brand steady through growth, market shifts and customer churn. “If it’s not true, your company isn’t going to believe in it and neither will your customers. It comes across fake, like the cheesy car salesman approach,” he said. “But when you find that element of truth – what you really stand for – it becomes your North Star. It’s what every message, every visual, every marketing channel should stem from.”

The first pint is sold on awareness. The second is sold on taste. You can’t get to the second without the first.

Tim Weaver

Weaver’s framework for finding that point of truth is deliberately research-heavy. It starts with the company itself: what are the real strengths of the business, and what does the team believe sets them apart? This could be location, ingredients or sheer passion. From there, he looks outward to its customers, determining what keeps them coming back and why they reach for this brand instead of another. The final step is a close study of the competition, examining both the messages they put forward and the missteps best left unreplicated. When those three filters overlap, genuine brand positioning comes into focus.

The benefit is that once you’ve identified your brand purpose, or your North Star, consistency becomes easier. It doesn’t just inform your Instagram captions; it can show up in your taproom culture, your email newsletters, and even the way you speak to restaurant owners and distributors. “Your messaging, values, tone of voice, channels and any elements you use to promote your brand are fed from that one central point of truth,” said Weaver. “It influences everything you do from that point. It should be baked in.”

For example, for U.K.-based Wilful Beer, its “craft, not daft” positioning packs strategy behind clever wordplay. With a small team, old equipment and a commitment to making no-nonsense, great-tasting beer, its entire identity is rooted in the value of doing things by hand. That ethos carries through in how it shows up for customers: tradespeople get discounts as a nod to their own manual craft, coasters double as writable surfaces so drinkers can “leave their mark,” and its visual identity leans on imperfect, handmade fonts and textures rather than anything overly polished.

These deliberate choices all make sense because they are true to the way the brewery operates day to day. What you see in the branding is exactly what’s happening behind the scenes in the brewhouse.

When good brands go bad

Even with the best intentions, many producers stumble when it comes to branding. Weaver sees the same pitfalls repeated across the industry: mistakes that not only dull a brand’s impact, but can also prevent a great product from ever finding its audience. The first and most dangerous trap is assuming that liquid alone is enough.

“Be mindful of the Field of Dreams mentality. ‘Brew it and they will come’ is not a strategy. The best beer in the world doesn’t sell itself if nobody knows about it,” Weaver said. “The first pint is sold on awareness. The second is sold on taste. You can’t get to the second without the first.”

That belief often goes hand-in-hand with another mistake: looking inward instead of outward. Many producers, Weaver says, create for themselves and their friends, not for the broader market. That kind of thinking alienates the vast majority of drinkers who aren’t alcohol nerds chasing the next experimental release.

“Most people just want a great product that fits the moment. Brands need to stop talking to themselves and start talking to their consumers,” said Weaver. That doesn’t mean there isn’t space to play, though, simply that it must be approached strategically. “Understand what your consumer wants, win them over with that and gain the permission to introduce them to something unique that you’re really proud of,” said Weaver.

While Weaver is a proponent of “secret shopping” to see what a brand’s competitors are doing well (or not so well), he cautions that too many producers fall into the trap of looking only sideways within their own category. Studying another brewery’s taproom might show what’s trending, but it won’t necessarily reveal what’s truly distinctive. By contrast, looking outside the industry can spark ideas that feel fresh and unexpected.

“You can learn so much more from walking through a hotel lobby about how to improve your taproom than you can by going to your competitor’s taproom,” he said. The lighting, the flow of people, the way a space creates mood and comfort – these are lessons that apply to alcohol branding just as much as they do to hospitality.

Producers live their brand every day, so they can get tired of it quickly. But your customers might only interact with you once every couple of weeks. To them, you’re not repetitive – you’re finally becoming clear.

Tim Weaver

Finally, Weaver bristles at overused buzzwords like “quality,” “community,” and “authenticity,” that have been drained of meaning. “If you have to say you’re authentic, you probably aren’t,” he said. “Every producer will claim quality. Every brewery will claim community. Those words mean nothing if you can’t show what they actually look like in practice.”

Keep your story straight

Entrepreneurs are an ambitious bunch, always finding inspiration to execute new ideas. While there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, when it comes to branding, it’s essential to filter every idea through your North Star. Flash can grab attention for a moment, but it’s consistency that keeps customers coming back. “You actually do your customers a disservice by veering off track,” said Weaver. “It can be confusing for them when you do something off kilter to what you typically communicate.”

In that sense, it might behoove you to feel like you’re drilling the message a little too hard. “Producers live their brand every day, so they can get tired of it quickly. But your customers might only interact with you once every couple of weeks. To them, you’re not repetitive – you’re finally becoming clear.” That means weaving your messaging through every channel over and over again, on the assumption that it’s likely only a fraction of your audience saw your social media post, newsletter or poster. “Continue to repeat and reinforce your core message,” said Weaver.

That said, consistency doesn’t mean staying static. It means finding ways to carry your story across every touchpoint, from coasters and bar mats to emails and events. Through any medium, whether it’s print advertising, social media, networking, podcast interviews or anything else, approach all aspects with your brand purpose in mind. Each medium requires its own tactics, but all should feel unmistakably like the same brand.

Shelf esteem

So, you’ve got a strong brand position, you’re crystal clear on your message and what you stand for, and you know what you want your customers to associate with your company. Now, how do you get that onto the shelves? In liquor store aisles, where a split-second decision can make or break a sale, Weaver says disruption is the goal. It’s a matter of bringing your point of truth to life. This is where illustrators and designers earn their keep, finding ways for visuals to carry your brand story. Sometimes disruption is subtle: a different can size, a contrasting top colour or an unusual label texture.

“It’s not always about the design itself,” Weaver said. “Sometimes, it’s the shape or the feel that stops someone’s eye as they’re scanning.” Weaver says that producers often pour budget into striking front-of-bottle artwork, but ignore the rest of the package. “The back of the package is prime real estate to tell your story. Too often it’s wasted on a giant barcode or clunky layout. Design is about storytelling across the whole package, not just the cover art,” said Weaver.

Beyond the shelf, he says that small producers often overlook low-cost opportunities to stand out at the point of sale. Coasters, balloons or even a display box that doubles as a shelf unit can multiply visibility without multiplying spend. Sometimes, it’s as simple as noticing a need in the space itself – like a bar with uncomfortable stools – and offering a solution, whether that’s branded cushions or another thoughtful detail that puts your product at the centre of the experience.

“If you can be the one brewery remembered out of 20 samples at a festival or 100 options on a shelf, you’ve won,” Weaver said. However, the real differentiator isn’t novelty for novelty’s sake – it’s integration. Producers who understand who their drinkers are and how their product fits into customers’ lives will always have the edge. Packaging might earn a second glance, but it can only take a brand so far. The ones that have longevity are the producers who carry their truth through every touchpoint, until it stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like identity.

“Great branding informs how a product fits into your customer’s ritual, their moment, their identity,” Weaver said. “That’s when branding moves beyond packaging. That’s when it becomes part of people’s lives.”

“Ultimately, smoke taint is the objectionable note in wines produced from smoke-exposed grapes. It is perceptible by smell, taste and aroma,” said Wesley Zandberg, an associate professor of chemistry and member of the Wine Research Centre at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus.

Smoke’s distinctive odour is created by specific phenolic compounds. Volatile phenols created by burning biomass are transported into ripening grapes by smoke, which is absorbed and then linked to the grape’s sugars. During fermentation, those sugar-bound, smoke-derived phenols are broken back down, releasing the original pungent phenols into the wine. “People in the industry might argue that we should maybe call it smoke impact,” Zandberg said. “This is because not all smoke-exposed grapes produce smoke-exposed wines. That’s important to note.”

There are also ways to mitigate its effects.

Reverse osmosis

For many years, reverse osmosis has been a common method for removing various taints from wines. It works by forcing the wine through a semi-permeable membrane, which removes larger molecules such as smoke-derived phenols. It has been used primarily by bigger wineries, which have the money and resources to make it work. “But by the time you’ve removed the offensive molecules, you’ve also removed much of the pleasant aromas of the wine too. It certainly hasn’t produced anything that’s worth the cost,” said Zandberg.

Jennifer Kelly, a senior scientist at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, shares a similar perspective. “Reverse osmosis is not necessarily targeted for these compounds and could potentially remove other compounds in the wine that may be favourable,” she said. A winemaker, she says, must then find other ways to add a wine’s positive characteristics back into the bottle through blending or other means.

Timing matters

A day of smoke likely isn’t a big deal, but lingering smoke and the resulting extended exposure of the fruit to the particles will likely be an issue. It’s also worth considering the time of year the smoke occurs. Spring isn’t as big of a deal as later in the season. “Grapes are most susceptible seven days post-veraison,” said Kelly. “That timing can make or break a vintage.” Before committing to fermenting the entire harvest, try a microferment, Kelly says. “The grapes may look clean and smell clean, but they may not be clean,” she said. “A trial microfermentation would be a really good idea.”

Pick fruit later and use oak

“It is important to note that many of the same phenols present in smoke are also found in oak,” Zandberg said. “Clearly, context and concentration are both important.”

Like Zandberg, Val Tait, winemaker and general manager of Gold Hill Winery in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley, prefers not to call it smoke taint. Instead, she uses the term smoke influence. “For me, what has worked is to bring it into the cellar and try to develop a wine where that profile fits. That means making a wine that’s bolder, more expressive,” she said.

“The fruit is picked later, when it has much more ripe black fruit flavours, and [is] then brought into the cellar to work with oak with a higher toast. More extended maceration, too, [helps] to build the wine up so that it’s a bolder expression and the smoke segues into that quite nicely.” If you fight against the smoke and try to make the style you made in previous vintages, you’ll fail, says Tait. “You’ll make a very disjointed wine. Just find a way to work with it,” she said.

Kelly says that sometimes, oak chips can be effective for masking smoke. “But well-toasted barrels can have a compounding effect if you have a smoke-tainted wine,” she said.

Consider carbon

Libby Nixon, assistant winemaker and assistant viticulturist at Noble Ridge, has found that adding carbon to the wines (post-ferment for reds and at the juice stage for whites, rosés and hard pressings) can help somewhat. “The smoke will bind to the carbon and then you can just take it out,” Nixon said. “It’s cost-effective, but you don’t want to add too much because it will strip away some of the desirable characteristics.”

Hand harvest

Picking grapes by hand helps limit the number of leaves and extraneous material before fermentation; the leaves may make the perception of taint worse, Kelly says.

Limit skin contact

From Zandberg’s perspective, research needs to focus on the way grapes and smoke interact. He says these targeted strategies and in-winery reduction are particularly exciting. “Chemically understanding the interaction between smoke and the surface of a grape is critical. If we can understand this at a molecular level, we can manipulate it at a molecular level,” said Zandberg. “Then we can concentrate on how we can mitigate it in the winery.”

Grapes are most susceptible seven days post-veraison. That timing can make or break a vintage.

Jennifer Kelly, Brock University

Limiting the grapes’ skin contact during fermentation – as in, no hard pressings – may prevent some taint.  That’s because “skin thickness and bunch compactness can also have an impact,” says Kelly. It’s worth noting that some grapes seem to be more susceptible to smoke exposure than others. Syrah and Shiraz, for instance, naturally contain these compounds. If possible, blend wine from a previous vintage or a smoke-free vineyard to dilute the effect of the taint.

Pick yeasts carefully

Zandberg keeps an empty wine bottle on his desk, from an especially smoky vintage. The winemaker used “fancy yeasts,” Zandberg says, the sort associated with pleasant aromas. That particular bottle was marketable, but vintages from the same varietals of grapes produced by a nearby winery had to be pulled from the shelves. “Yeasts can make a big difference to smoke influence if we have a better understanding of how yeast-produced aromas can make, or in some cases, enhance, the smokiness,” said Zandberg. In other words, when potential smoke taint is a concern at harvest and commercial yeasts are being used, it’s important to select yeast strains carefully. “You should find strains of yeast that are less prone to smoke taint,” Zandberg said.

Kelly said, “They can enhance fruity aromas and esters to mask the smoke.” Kelly also says that grapes grown 50 to 80 kilometres from the fire typically see the most smoke influence. “Distance is important,” she said. “Beyond that, it doesn’t seem to be as impactful.”

Stay on top of the research

Mitigation research is underway now in Canada, Australia and the U.S., and results are released periodically. Past studies include washing the vines and grapes with water, ethanol and milk; none have changed the perception of smoke in the finished wines. In 2019, a group of researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia applied kaolin (clay) to fruit approximately 10 days after the start of veraison, but before smoke exposure. Results showed its effectiveness depended on the extent of coverage; Merlot seemed to benefit from the kaolin spray, but Sauvignon and Chardonnay didn’t show much difference because the kaolin didn’t adequately adhere to the fruit.

Also at the University of Adelaide, researchers have had some success experimenting with molecularly imprinted polymers, adsorbents designed to bind smoke taint compounds, removing them from wine. “We’re also working with activated carbon fabric to prevent smoke contamination of grapes in the vineyard – again, results are promising, but there are some logistical challenges to overcome,” said Kerry Wilkinson, a professor of oenology at the University of Adelaide. “Results from trials combining separation technologies such as membrane filtration and spinning cone column distillation with the use of adsorbents are also promising.”

Look ahead to next year

The thing about smoke influence is that it’s hard to predict how or when it will show up. Sometimes, it’s evident at crush, when making the wine. Other times, it may not show up in the juice, but will show up months or even years down the road, long after the wine has been bottled. “It’s a bit tricky,” Kelly said. “These phenols can be odourless in the juice and emerge later, once you’re drinking the wine.”

Conversely, sometimes the influence shows up scientifically, but isn’t noticeable to the drinker. Some of Zandberg’s research is about “trying to deduce when smoke exposure will result in taint and when it will not,” he said. “Just because I can measure it chemically doesn’t mean the wine is bad. It just means I have really sensitive instruments.”

If experiencing a bad year, look ahead to the next. Smoke doesn’t seem to leave a lasting effect on vineyards. If a vineyard experiences smoke one year, but nothing the following year, that following year will likely be free of taint. “It won’t be a forever problem,” Kelly said. “I think it’s valuable for people to understand that.”

What is clear is that wildfires aren’t going away. “Climate change is making … our summers drier and that is leading to an increase in fires,” said Kelly. “But we are increasing the knowledge that helps winemakers better understand the risks and how to mitigate the effects [of smoke taint] down the road.”