One of the oldest distilleries in Canada, Alberta Distillers started in 1946 in Calgary, Alta., where three entrepreneurs came together to create history. Max Bell, a rancher, Frank McMahon, a Canadian oilman and George Reifel, a distiller, built the Alberta Distillers brand to be grounded in western Canadian values. They wanted to give back to the community by making affordable and high-quality products.

Starting out on 23 acres, the distillery is now in the heart of Calgary on 42 acres of land. The site has two rail spurs on-site that can ship and receive by rail, ISO tankers and tanker trailers, keeping the history of its story close to its heart. The site itself sits over 3,000 feet above sea level, with exceptionally dry air that has lasting impacts on Alberta Distillers’ sought-after taste profile. With its unique location, the distillery can create exceptional whiskies, such as its Canadian Club, and other products, including Alberta Premium, Alberta Pure Vodka, Reifel Rye and Northern Keep Vodka.

None of the products that make it to the shelf or into customers’ glasses would be possible without Craig Dryburgh, the plant general manager, Deepti Gurkar, the national marketing director, Bernard Sous, the senior distillery manager and Maria Palafox, who is in charge of quality control. Together, the Alberta Distillers team creates products that have received attention not only in Canada, but around the world.

Using a hammer mill and their three enzyme reactors to create their own enzymes over six to 10 days, their products go through three mash cookers, with each cycle taking about four hours. Alberta Distillers has 20 different fermenters. The whisky spirits are aged in three different types of wood barrels, including new white oak and once-used bourbon barrels. Alberta Distillers is one of the few sites in Canada that can age barrels in both rack-style and pallet-style warehouses.

The turnaround for the vodka is quite quick, while the process for whisky is always blended with at least the minimum requirements for aging (with some of their whisky having been aged over 20 years to be integrated into their blends). The first stage of the process is grain receiving, cleaning and milling. The second stage sees mashing liquefaction and saccharification, which takes eight hours and leads into stage three: fermentation after addition of the yeast, which takes about four days. During the fourth stage, the first distillation occurs using their beer still column, which produces a high wine that is a continuous process.

Lastly, the fifth stage is the redistillation of the spirit for either a vodka specification or whisky specification, depending on the product. The whisky is aged for at least three years in barrels, depending on the age requirement for that product.

Many of Alberta Distillers’ products can be found on shelves across Canada. Currently, they are not distributed in Quebec, but some of their Alberta Premium can be found throughout the U.S., while Canadian Club can be found globally. Alberta Premium also has limited distribution in Japan.

“We do a few things very uniquely. All of our grains come from local farmers in Alberta with a little bit from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Sourcing grains from local farmers is important,” said Gurkar. “We love everyone that works within our facility. Their attention to detail is important – the quality is met year after year. We enjoy using the best ingredients, having the best people working with our products, putting it through the rigour of the facility in its unique location, then coming up with a liquid to make all of Canada proud, especially when we win international awards.”

Alberta Distillers won Distillery of the Decade in 2020 at the Canadian Whisky Awards, and many of their products are endowed with a variety of awards. Northern Keep Vodka won Double Gold at the SIP Awards in 2023. Alberta Pure Vodka won Double Gold at the International Spirits Challenge in 2023 and Double Gold at the SIP Awards in 2024. The Alberta Premium Cask Strength received Gold at both the Canadian Whisky Awards and the SIP Awards in 2023, and received Silver at the International Spirits Challenge in 2024.

Alberta Distillers won not only a Gold medal, but was also titled the Category Winner for their Canadian Club 100% Rye. Additionally, Reifel Rye, named after one of the founders, was well recognized last year, receiving Gold at the International Spirits Challenge, Best New Whisky of the Year at the Canadian Whisky Awards in 2023 and a Silver medal at the 2024 International Spirits Challenge.

Focusing on the future, Alberta Distillers is looking forward to incorporating more sustainability into their day-to-day practices. “We’re committed to aligning with Suntory Global Spirits’ goals by 2030,” said Gurkar. “Upgrading the boilers, installing water management systems, water seals and pumps to up our efficiency. Vapour compressors are being installed [as well].”

We love everyone that works within our facility. Their attention to detail is important – the quality is met year after year. We enjoy using the best ingredients, having the best people working with our products, putting it through the rigour of the facility in its unique location, then coming up with a liquid to make all of Canada proud, especially when we win international awards.

Deepti Gurkar, Alberta Distillers Limited

Additionally, Gurkar says Alberta Distillers has an ongoing partnership with the University of Alberta, working with the recovery of rainwater and treating liquid waste streams. They are participating in ongoing studies to ensure that environmental consciousness is in the forefront of their production decisions, working toward more sustainability in their actions, not just their words.

“Canadian whisky can be so broad and is often referred to as rye even without any rye, so we’ve been on a mission [to educate people on] what a 100 per cent rye whisky is,” said Gurkar. “You can visit ryewhiskyacademy.com and you can learn about the difference of high rye whiskies. Rye is very well loved in Canada. I don’t think we always understand what skill it takes to make a great rye whisky.”

Keep an eye out because there’s more coming from Alberta Premium this year, and Alberta Distillers is continuing to grow some of their craft brands like Reifel Rye and Northern Keep Vodka. As a long-standing distillery, Gurkar says it’s when people try a product, or they get the opportunity to visit the distillery to see what’s next, that people realize how much effort, knowledge, heritage and innovation goes into Alberta Distillers’ products.

Looking to the future, Alberta Distillers is focused on continuing to create quality products that bring people together. 

In 2010, the duo set out to learn as much as they could about the distilling business – from marketing, to distilling itself, to the business side and everything in between. Vicky is at the helm of the distilling side, with her background in science accompanied by an abrupt takeover of their home kitchen with mason jars full of botanical experiments. JD, on the other hand, looked to the marketing and business side of the distillery, diving into the deep end to learn how to create a craft distillery from the ground up.

It took four years of research, learning and deciphering, and in 2013 they took the plunge and formed the business, purchasing their distilling equipment. The doors at Dixon’s Distilled Spirits finally opened in 2015.

When they started the company in 2013, there was a size requirement placed on equipment capacity in Ontario for distilleries. JD says this size requirement was keeping craft distilleries out of the market because the volume capacity was too large for most distilleries starting out. The Dixons made the decision to jump into the market and purchased their hybrid still, column and pot set up while the now removed capacity requirement was in place. This made Dixon’s a smaller distiller with a very large capacity and the ability to produce many different types of spirits.

Their hybrid still holds 18 plates, which guarantees that all their products are distilled 18 times, rather than the industry standard of three to five. Now, with a larger on-site team, including two distillers, JD and Vicky’s hard work has paid off.

Looking at the offerings of Dixon’s Distilled Spirits, one is met with a colourful array of unique craft spirits – gin, vodka, whisky, liqueurs – and, more recently, coolers. Bright labels match the uniquely coloured products nestled inside; a kaleidoscopic experience on the shelf sure to draw in new and old customers alike. With the promise of creating something for everyone, Dixon’s also offers a BBQ sauce and a mustard. Another unique offering is their whisky aged maple syrup. “In my business plan, I never mentioned the word gin once. It was vodka and whisky,” JD said. “We quickly learned that making whisky is a very costly adventure, and we learned you need to make money while the whisky was aging.”

He wasn’t kidding about the aging. For their whisky, the average bottle time is about four years. Currently, Dixon’s is holding back a 12-year aged whisky which is getting close to its release date. One of their goals is to have a 12-year whisky in the market. Their whisky is a simple corn and rye mixture, single malt and it is run through a carbon filter to remove any impurities before barrelling. They use some “different barrel treatments” JD says with a wink, which adds their magic to the barrels, giving it just a hint of sweetness.

On the other hand, their vodka and gin come with much quicker process times. The gin takes a bit more time than the two weeks it takes for the vodka. To make the gin, they redistill the alcohol through the gin column and it ends up taking around two-and-a-half weeks from start to finish.

Even with the deviation from the original business plan to add gin to their offerings, it’s a sure bet that customers are thankful gin found its way onto Dixon’s shelves. The gins have been some of their most popular products since launching, regularly winning awards, including double gold and consumers’ choice for both their Wicked Raspberry Gin and Wicked Citrus Gin at this year’s international SIP Awards. Not standalones on the podium by any means, the Wicked Blueberry Gin, Silvercreek Vodka, Silvercreek Blood Orange Vodka and the Flaming Caeser Vodka all received awards.

Awards are something that Dixon’s Distilled Spirits never sought out when creating spirits – JD says the focus was always to create products consumers liked. However, the awards kept coming in. Back in 2022, JD and Vicky were at home watching a hockey game when their phones started to buzz. “Congratulations!” text messages started to roll in and they were puzzled. “For what?” JD messaged back.

Someone clarified and told him, “You just won the best of Ontario Spirits award!” Immediately, Vicky and JD started looking into the award. It turned out to be during the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)’s Elsie Awards and the grand gala was that evening. Vicky quickly found that they had needed to meet specific criteria and were nominated, all while they had no idea the gala was even happening. “It was a huge honour,” JD said, recalling the evening.

Alongside the awards, recognition from consumers means the world to the team at Dixon’s. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dixon’s began producing sanitizer to help meet the local demand for hospitals and wherever else there was a need. They received letters from local politicians and even from hospitals thanking them for their involvement and production. “We’ve kept them all,” JD said. “It was an honour to be recognized by a lot of these groups.”

What’s next for Dixon’s? They want to focus on marketing their popular products and expanding into other markets. Dixon’s is keen to start sharing their products with more of Canada, hoping to get into British Columbia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. To continue the expansion, they’re also talking about stepping into the United States markets in Maryland, Delaware, California, and Washington, D.C.

While Dixon’s is managing their current product line and keeping an eye on the future, they are also consciously aware of environmentally sustainable initiatives that have a very real impact on their everyday production. Currently, they are looking into suppliers for biodegradable wrap to reduce their reliance on shrink wrap. They have also switched from bleached white cases for holding and transporting their products to the plain brown, which allows easier recycling of the carboard. Finally, Dixon’s changed their glass bottle type to one that has a thinner base to cut back on their glass usage.

Beyond their innovations and environmental initiatives, Dixon’s Distilled Spirits also has a unique relationship with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA). “I have a daughter who plays hockey and one of our managers, his daughter Lauren Gabel plays for Boston. She was also on the Canadian team before,” said JD. “So, we reached out to the [PWHPA] and said we wanted to help support them.” This resulted in some unique teamwork including live events with a few of the professional players on how to make cocktails using Dixon’s spirits.

All in all, it’s safe to say Dixon’s Distilled Spirits is not only constantly innovating, but always ready to share their tried-and-true customer favourites with new clientele, whether they be hockey players, hockey followers or have no idea what hockey is.

Currently, some of their products are available in Ontario in the LCBO, in store and online. Although not all of their products are available in every market, Dixon’s Distilled Spirits can be found in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, with Nova Scotia availability coming soon. With a love of coming up with new and exciting flavours, it is a sure bet that Dixon’s Distilled Spirits will be a distillery to watch as they focus on making their way into markets across Canada. Keep an eye on their website for exclusive innovations and small-batch offerings, too.