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Article: It's in the B.A.G.

It's in the B.A.G.

It's in the B.A.G.


Barrel-Aged Gin (B.A.G.). The newest release from the WLD boys

Greetings #WLDpeople! Long time, no talk. Well, we've been talking a lot, just not on this platform, so it's time now for an update.

A lot has happened in the last few months at the distillery and around the province. We last wrote in early 2018 with stories of 'Japow', Switzerland, and our 1 year anniversary party. The cold of the winter months has broken in the Bow Valley, and we have enjoyed a warm, sunshine filled spring.

With the blur of summer around the corner, here is what we've been up to:

March and April were filled with behind the scenes strategic planning and sales missions by the #WLDboys. These month we find are key in the hospitality industry as they are somewhat slower in a lot of venues, and therefore owners/managers take advantage of this extra bit of time to plan our their menu changes and tweaks for upcoming season (enter the #WLDboys with delicious vodka, gin and tonic syrup that they cannot resist). Keith spent countless hours pounding the pavement in YYC, while Matt has roamed the Bow Valley and ventured up to YEG on numerous trips.

The buzz of spring brings to life a host of events in Alberta. WLD attended Canmore Uncorked (The Long Table Dinner, Whisky/Spirits Fest, & The Grande Brunch), YYC Beerfest, YEG Beerfest, The Rustica Patio Launch, and The Table Food+Drink Patio Launch among others. These local events are a great way to showcase our products and brand to you, our WLD community. Hopefully at least a few of you were able to mooch a mini G&T off of us at the various venues we were pouring at!

Somewhere in between all of the above event chaos, the #WLDboys managed to sneak away for a couple days consecutively without losing the rhythm of all things WLD.


The WLDRobinson crew down in Nawlins


Different trip, same horse #burro


@wldkeith on a right-hander down on the Baja

This brings us to the meat of the matter; the filet mignon if you will.

*******

On June 30th, 2018 (yes that is a Saturday), we will be releasing our Barrel-Aged Gin (B.A.G.) at the distillery! This is a very exciting product for us as we begin to wade into the vast world of oak. As part of our trip to Kentucky last fall to learn about cooperage/barrels, Matt and Keith had this product on the 'back burner' of their whisky brains.

This gin spent 6 months resting in ex-bourbon barrels sourced from Kentucky, and shows beautiful soft oak notes, layered amongst the unmistakeable complexity of our WLD Gin. We would be pleased if you could join us on the 30th as we launch this exciting new product! We will have cocktail specials and features using the B.A.G. throughout the day. As well of course, there will be Valbella charcuterie on hand, with our patio open for enjoyment.

Bottles will go on sale at 12pm. For the record we packaged 684 bottles of this batch 001, with batch 002 likely not coming out until Christmas time 2018...

So get it while the gettin's good.


On Tuesday June 12th, we officially received an international award! Matt Hendricks of Park Distillery in Banff called WLDMatt and said "Did you hear the news?!.. I can't possibly be the first one to tell you can I?!"

He was referring to the SIP Awards which are an annual international spirits competition that happen in California. The competition received 783 brand entries and was judged by 122 consumers in various categories.

Wild Life Distillery received a Gold for our WLD Vodka, and a Double Gold for our WLD Gin!

Apparently this is a big deal, so hey, we're stoked!

https://sipawards.com

And another thing....! Lastly, we threw our first ever WLD cocktail competition this past weekend at Pr%f in Calgary! We had a stellar line-up of the city's best cocktail bartenders battling head-to-head with our WLD Gin and some Albertan ingredients. An extremely high level of cocktail was on display and it was amazing to see 'the pros' go at it!


London from Burwood throwing down a delicious C-tail.

Huge thanks for the following establishments for taking part.

Una Pizza+Wine (Neila)

Betty Lou's Library (Tiffanie)

Pr%f (Makina and Reece)

Native Tongues Taqueria (Dylan)

Last Best Brewing & Distilling (Alex)

Burwood Distillery & Restaurant (London)

Model Citizen (Ian)

Calcutta Cricket Club (Eric and Bryden)

Big ups to our winner Eric from Calcutta Cricket Club on a first class cocktail to take the W over Ian from Model Citizen by 2pts (out of 200)!


We hope every single one of you has ridden a bicycle, or hiked a mountain since the snow has melted. If you have time, please join us on the 30th at the distillery; and if you don't, we'll catch you next time!

- Here's to summer campfires and G&T's on the patio,

- The WLD boys


#Shayno

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