Vernon city council to pen letter to premier backing B.C. craft distilleries

Council backs distilleries

Photo: Ben Low-On file photo

Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery in February 2025, CEO Tyler Dyck is calling for reductions in caps to be able to fill B.C. Liquor Store shelves with homegrown, premium spirits.

City council is backing up the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) calls to lessen regulatory barriers for B.C. distilleries as U.S. liquor remains off limits in the province.

Currently, craft distilleries cannot produce more than 50,000 litres of spirits annually, and must use 100 per cent B.C.-grown agriculture to qualify for the craft designation. Exceeding the cap means big financial penalties.

At Monday’s Vernon city council meeting, Coun. Kari Gares said GVCC had sent a letter to the province in February asking for caps on production to be removed, and suggested council write its own letter.

“As everybody knows, with the…retaliatory tariffs that we have, the provincial government has actually taken a bunch of U.S. products off of the publicly owned shelves in liquor stores in hopes that we will buy B.C. or we will buy Canadian,” Gares said.

“We are looking at buying local, but yet we can't produce enough to buy local. So I'm wondering if this council would be so inclined, to support a motion that we would write a letter agreeing with what the chamber has requested and provide that level of support.”

She noted regulations are intended to keep craft distilleries specialized, but with the changing times, it’s evident changes should be considered.

Coun Brian Guy backed the idea up.

“I agree 100 per cent, in addition to these excellent points that the chamber raises, the craft facilities here produce very high quality products and it's worth trying,” Guy said.

Council agreed to have Mayor Victor Cumming write a letter to the premier on behalf of council.