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It’s early January.

It’s Victoria.

It must be Whisky Season!!

THE SHOW 

It’s the first of two Whisky Specials from the 2025 Canadian Whisky Awards and the 2025 Victoria Whisky Festival.

There are always headlining whiskies and star whisky makers in attendance!

Whisky fans want to taste and explore the new releases from Crown Royal, Canadian Club, Forty Creek, Hiram Walker, JP Wiser’s Lot 40, Pike Creek, Gooderham and Worts, Nikka, Amrut, The Dalmore and Glencadam.

For the first time ever,  Gisbelle Distillery a distillery from China,  would be joining the lineup.

The West Coast and Vancouver Island were well represented.

Stillhead, Odd Society, DubhGlas, Sheringham, Sons of Vancouver & Shelter Point.

Over 200 whiskies were up for the awards. 14 judges from across the country tasted and scored.

The Grand Prize Winner, judged Canadian Whisky of the Year was,

The Peat Project Moscatel Barrique single malt from Macaloney’s Island Distillery (Saanich)

(Heather Leary – Graeme Macaloney – Davin de Kergommeaux)

Here are the guests on part one of the 2025 Whisky Awards and Victoria Whisky Festival

Davin De Kergommeaux  –  Davin is the flag bearer for Canadian Whisky. He singlehandedly brought Canadian Whisky to the attention of Canada and The World.

His latest book is the updated and expanded third edition of Canadian Whisky – The Essential Portable Expert.

I love the first line.

“Handles, mickeys, shots or drams, no matter what its measure, Canadian whisky is a story of Canada.”

Davin is my ultimate connection to the world of Canadian Whisky. He helped create these awards and leads the judging team.

Davin de Kergommeaux

Grant Stevely – Distiller at DubhGlas (Oliver)

In the fall of 2010, Grant purchased some property at Gallagher Lake near Oliver, B.C.

“I wanted to build a distillery from the ground up, which is distinctly different from a lot of other

distilleries,” he says. “So we built the distillery with expansion in mind.”

Grant Stevely

At the heart of the operation is a German-made Arnold Holstein still.

No sooner did Stevely open Dubh Glas Distillery in the spring of 2015, when he began winning awards

for his first product, Noteworthy Gin.

“Dubh Glas” is Scottish Gaelic for “from the dark water.” It’s pronounced “Douglas,” which happens to

be Stevely’s middle name.

Jason MacIsaac – Distiller. Sheringham (Langford, BC)

Sheringham Distillery  won Best Contemporary Gin at the 2019 World Gin Awards

Its Seaside Gin captured the award against World-class competition from 23 countries,  including the UK  and USA.

“We created Sheringham because we saw a hole in the market: the opportunity to create the world’s most drinkable spirits. This approach has served us well, and in the seven years since founding Sheringham, we have been on the ground building authentic connections with buyers, retailers, and consumers, sharing our story and highlighting our chef-driven approach to innovation and quality.”  (Distiller Mag)

Jason and wife  Alayne now have their growing portfolio available across Canada and in 15 markets in the USA.

Graeme Macaloney – Master Distiller  Macaloney Island Distillery (Saanich)

There once was a wee Scottish lad by the name of Graeme Macaloney who found a summer job bottling

whisky and fell in love with Uisge Beatha, the ‘water of life’. He dedicated his heart to finding a way to

make whisky for a living.

Graeme set up shop on Saanich, just outside Victoria. Some of his favourite Scottish and Irish whiskies were island-made.

Graeme has found his “island” in Canada.

Congratulations Champ!!

– Distillery opened in 2016

– The first whisky made onsite and  released in 2020

-Canadian Whisky of the Year – 2025

Brennan Colebank – Master Distiller Stillhead Distillery (Duncan)

Founded by the Colebank family, Stillhead Distillery Inc. opened its doors in October of 2017.

After working 15 years in the tech industry, Master Distiller Brennan Colebank left his job to pursue his dream career,

blending the two things he loved most: chemistry and spirits.  The chemist has created an amazing portfolio and a home for Whisky in the Cowichan Valley.

www.victoriawhiskyfestival.com

www.canadianwhiskyawards.com

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Tom and Terry

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Rhys Pender

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BC Wine/Alberta wine fans.  –  Finally, a hug and a handshake.

Our guest is Paul Sawler.  Board Chair  BC Wine Growers & leadership at Dirty Laundry (Summerland)

 This is great news for BC wineries and growers.  Hello Alberta wine fans!!!

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It’s not just the life of Leonard Cohen.  It’s the life of his song,  Hallelujah.

When he released it on the album  Various Positions, his label in the USA,  Columbia Records, refused to release it.  It never got played and was almost forgotten…until John Cale recorded it for the tribute album I’m Your Fan and it began a life of its own. The song passed from Bob Dylan to Cale, to Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, kdlang and the  Shrek Soundtrack. Now, it’s legendary.

With Fame comes The Lame. Various singers have crushed the life out of Hallelujah in TV Talent shows. Some crediting the song to Jeff Buckley without knowing that Cohen lived it and wrote it.

Leonard wrote 130-150 verses for the song. Took him many  years. At times made him lose his famous cool.

Hallelujah started as a spiritual journey. With various Leonard rewrites it became a secular,  sexy anthem. Before and after it was released to the World, the song took on a life of its own.

Post Shrek, Hallelujah took Leonard Cohen to audiences all over the World. It’s a heartfelt film that captures the brilliance of Leonard Cohen and the song.

The film was released in 2022.

This is smashing filmmaking and epic storytelling.

The directors are Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine.

Dan Geller said “the real focus is Leonard the man asking the deep questions about the purpose of life, the challenges of life, the holiness of life, and the brokenness of life”

https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/hallelujah/

As we sat down Dan said – It’s only about one song but we managed to fit in 22 Cohen songs.

Available for screening on Netflix, Hulu, Crave, and Apple. MUNI

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays All

From  1974 to 1979 I was lucky enough to host Great Canadian Goldrush on CBC Radio  National.

Every Christmas we had a Christmas Jam – in the studio. Produced by Susan Englebert. (with assistance from Claire Lawrence)

Except for the mixed drinks, it was nothing fancy but it was an hour of heart-felt stories and songs.

The artists included Roy Forbes and Shari Ulrich.

After a handful of years, we lost our leader. Producer Susan Englebert lost her battle with Cancer.

We dedicate each of these Christmas show in  her memory.

When Goldrush left the air, Christmas Jam disappeared UNTIL Roundhouse Radio in Vancouver came on air, I had a studio to capture this magic.

I talked to Shari, Roy, and Barney Bentall and they all signed on for a reconnect.

We got 3 years of Christmas in the Round recorded and then Roundhouse went dark.

Keeping the tradition alive, this year we present Year 3 of Christmas in the Round  (2017)

and Next Week the tradition continues with The Trans Canada Highwaymen.

This Week –

The Lineup includes

Jim Byrnes

Shari Ulrich

Barney Bentall

Bill Henderson (Chilliwack)

Craig Northey   (Odds and Steven Page Trio)

On percussion Geoff Hicks (Colin James, Barney, Cuddy, Byrnes, Northey etc)

Rob Becker (guitar/vocals)

Kirby Barber (guitar/vocals)

Roy Forbes was unavailable in Year 3 BUT I found him hiding in Year One

He brings with him two songs and the slide guitar of Shaun Verreault from Wide Mouth Mason.

And yes..he does tell the story and rolls out his Christmas Classic Mince Meat Tart