The Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition Returns for its Second Year

CASC is now accepting submissions from Artisan Distilleries across Canada

After a successful inaugural year, Canada’s first – and only – national spirit competition reserved exclusively for artisan distilleries launches its second annual competition.

Reflecting the growth in recent times of small-batch distilleries, last year’s competition highlighted the best artisan spirits from almost every province and territory, with close to half of all distilleries in the country participating. This year’s competition aims to build on that success by continuing to evaluate and award our country’s smaller spirit producers.

Blind samples will be evaluated by a panel of judges from across the country. They will evaluate the spirits over the late fall, with winners announced in early 2019.

The competition will award the following accolades:

Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals – these are based on numerical scores awarded by the judges.
The top spirit in each of 14 categories, based on points – e.g. top gin, whisky, or vodka.
Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year – the top-scoring spirit regardless of category.
New in 2019, spirits may be awarded a medal with distinction – for those that achieve the same medal in a second year, demonstrating a consistent level of performance.

“I expected to see some great spirits from across Canada, but was really amazed by the creativity and quality of spirits from every region in the country,” says CASC founder Alex Hamer. “We had two great gins using seaweed from opposite ends of the country, tasty brandies from Quebec, a potato vodka from Ontario, and just about anything else you could imagine. I can’t wait to see what this year’s submissions are like.”

CASC was founded and is run by Alex Hamer. For the past five years, he has run BC Distilled, Canada’s largest artisan distillery festival.

For more information about the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition, visit: artisanspirit.ca.