Canada is one of the top 5 whisky producing nations in the world. Our distilling industry flourished during the prohibition era, earning Canada a place on the world whisky stage. We’re known for our rye whiskies in particular – a light, smooth style that global whisky lovers enjoy and anticipate.
While many of the great whisky producing nations have strict rules about what defines their whisky, the regulations that define Canadian whisky allow for a vast range of flavour profiles far removed from your grandfather’s favourite rye. The Maligne Range explores creative grain bills to produce exciting new whisky expressions. It’s our mission as a craft distiller to create new and interesting whiskies that ascend beyond the well-worn paths and broaden the understanding of what great Canadian whisky can be.
Great whisky is shaped by a variety of forces – water, grains, wood – and those themselves are shaped by soil, climate, and terrain. When those forces combine with human ingenuity, experience, and most importantly enduring patience, the result is truly exceptional whisky.
This is the trailhead of the unexplored wilderness of Canadian whisky. Here grain, water, and wood are profoundly altered by the region’s unique geography, climate and weather. In turn, those forces affect the barrels, pulling flavour and nuance from the oak staves over long years of aging. The resulting spirits are blended with the rich knowledge of whisky tradition and western ingenuity to create new flavours and whisky experiences that reshape the understanding of Canadian whisky.
The land on which we live, this soil where the mountains meet the prairies grow grains for malt that are second to none for distilling. Glacier-fed water that flows unceasingly down the valleys, shaping the land as it goes – that’s the source of our whisky.
Taking these simple local ingredients, inspired by our brewing history, using age-old techniques, our master distiller applies knowledge and creativity to bring adventurous new spirits to life. Those spirits are tempered by time, season by season, through the rapid swings in temperature during the hot, dry Alberta summers and long, frigid winters; year after year pulling flavour from the oak staves to develop richness and depth, ultimately to become a new whisky that could only be made in this place.
Our soil, our water, our agriculture, our seasons, our harsh climate, and our ingenuity all converge as whisky that is uniquely Western Canadian.