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In the spirit of things

Tyler Schramm's grad school professors in Edinburgh, Scotland spent an entire year laughing at him. There he was, fussing with potato vodka recipes in the land of rich whiskies and not for the life of them could they understand why.

Tyler Schramm's grad school professors in Edinburgh, Scotland spent an entire year laughing at him. There he was, fussing with potato vodka recipes in the land of rich whiskies and not for the life of them could they understand why. Young Schramm didn't give two shakes about the ribbing - in the spirit of all things entrepreneurial, he was too busy executing an unorthodox long-term business plan.

"When I was going to school there I was teased a lot by the professors for wanting to make potato vodka. Just even the thought of doing a vodka while going to school in Scotland was a ridiculous idea to them," said Schramm from his rural Pemberton Distillery. "They just couldn't understand why I wanted to do vodka instead of whiskey. It was definitely looked down upon."

To understand his reasons, Schramm's professors would have to travel to the fertile mountains north of Whistler fondly dubbed Spud Valley. Tyler and his older brother Jonathan - both accomplished bikers - were initially drawn to Pemberton for the trails and descents. When Jonathan moved onto a potato farm there in 2001, the brothers were connected to the world of spud farming and Tyler recognized a niche - farmers needed to sell their produce. The mountains around them were flush with pristine water sources. Vodka was a very natural choice.

After looping his entire family into the project and completing a one-year Masters degree in distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, Tyler sunk everything he owned (and then some) into the purchase of fermentation tanks and picturesque hand-pounded copper stills from Germany. Two years later Schramm's Vodka has won a number of World Spirit Awards and made something of a name for itself among educated palates. As it should - the final product is of a quality that shuns the likes of cranberry juice and Sprite.

"It's been a bit of an education process for us to explain to people that we haven't produced our vodka for mass consumption," continued Schramm. "For small scale vodka like this it's made to be unique."

The first breath taken after a sip of Schramm's Vodka on a gray Friday before noon rides with the lightest vanilla and pepper undertones. It's no wonder the vodka is marketed as a sipping spirit - there's a subtleness of flavor in it that demands attention. Those who prefer their hard liquor dressed in a petticoat can ask Tyler's wife and business partner Lorien for a recipe, for she's apparently concocted quite a few. The simplest is the lemon drop - vodka poured over a shaker of ice mixed with fresh lemon juice and a simple sugar reduction served in a tall stemmed glass.

"Even though we do prefer that people drink it straight, we do also have quite an extensive list of cocktails that we've approved our vodka for use with," said Schramm with a laugh. "Lorien's the master there."

Only a handful of distilleries in North America make potato vodka and based on efficiency rates it's easy to discern why. To produce 80 bottles Tyler needs to use 1,200 pounds of potatoes, which works out roughly to 15 pounds of potatoes per bottle. Grain - the more popular option for distilleries and what you'll find on the shelves of the liquor store - is easier and more efficient but lacks the nuance of flavour. The potatoes used in Schramm's Vodka are organic and come scrubbed clean from Brenda and Bruce Miller's Across the Creek Organics farm some 15 kilometres down the road. Because they are pesticide-free they are used, skins and all by Schramm. The water used to bring the proof down to the standard 40 per cent alcohol level is drawn from the nearby Birkenhead River.

"The traditional definition of vodka is a colourless, tasteless spirit, but that's the North American notion," said Schramm. "Classic eastern European vodkas actually had very unique flavour, they would try to save some of the flavour from the raw material in the final product and that's where we've gone."

Heavily influenced as he was by the Scottish tradition, it was only a matter of time before Schramm tried his hand at whiskey. A number of bourbon barrels line the walls of the distillery. They're filled with the sleeping new-make spirit, which will earn the name whiskey when it's more mature - around three years old though Schramm won't let it see the light of day for another five years when it's sure to be properly aged. The Pemberton Distillery also just finished its first run of gin, produced a few weeks ago using local herbs and botanicals like juniper berries from the Bralorne region north of Pemberton. Unlike the whiskey, it'll be released to the public in small batches relatively soon. The spirits are available at local liquor stores.

In their spare time the Schramms also make baking essences - all natural bottles of vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon and Pemberton hazelnut.

The growth and diversification of the Pemberton Distillery is natural to the beast - though the addition of whiskey, gin and baking essences weren't part of the original strategy they've been welcomed as part of the company's evolution. At the end of the day this is a family affair - on weekends it's common to find all nine of Schramm's immediate and extended family drinking coffee and chatting around a table in the distillery, helping bottle the vodka by hand.

Unlike other vodkas, a sip of Schramm's is a sip of family pride. It is a taste of conscientious farmers and the land they love, fresh and mellow as the Pemberton air. What's not to love about that?

 

Serving suggestion - Tyler recommends the vodka be served neat in a wide mouth tumbler at around four degrees Celsius (refrigerator temperature). This temperature cools the alcohol enough to not shock the palate while allowing the flavour and the character of the vodka to come through.

 

www.pembertondistillery.com