BC’s micro-distillery scene is blowing up right now with new distilleries opening almost every few months in Vancouver. But first on the scene were Charles and Rita Tremewen who opened the doors of Long Table Distillery at 1451 Hornby Street on Valentines Day 2013, in the North False Creek neighbourhood.
Inspired by a trip to Portland’s Distillery Row, Charles and Rita decided to be the first to launch an artisan distillery in Vancouver. “We were excited by the possibility of having something like that here because nothing like it existed back then,” says Charles. But being a trailblazer brings its own problems, as he ruefully admits, “The biggest challenge we had to overcome was with the construction of our site. We had to deal with a tremendous amount of red tape to conform to code; it was definitely tough being the first.”
Tough, sure, but it’s certainly bought rewards, with the distillery’s London Dry Gin and Texada Vodka now available in most BC Liquor Stores and in Alberta, and they recently scored their first Ontario LCBO order for their Texada Vodka — the only 2014 craft vodka selected by the province.
