Alberta-made wildfire flavoured whisky sells for $10,000
After six years, a one-of-a-kind Alberta whisky is ready to be tasted – if you can get your hands on a bottle.
The Beast, named for the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, is a limited-edition whisky flavoured by the fire. Available exclusively through auction, only 20 bottles are left and they're going for thousands of dollars.
Bryce Parsons is a master distiller, and he said the idea for The Beast was born after his crew from Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Brewing was evacuated in 2016, leaving a pallet of heavily peated Scottish malt out.
When the team returned, Parsons said the malt was still there and it was still good.
"I said, 'Don't throw it out. I think we can do something with that.' And that's where it started,"he explained."
Flavoured by the wildfire, and tested for safety, the malt was used to craft a truly one-of-a-kind Alberta spirit.
"It's the first whisky ever released in the world that's been directly influenced by a natural disaster," Parsons said.
"Initial thought was, 'Let's make the whisky. Let's see how it turns out, and then let's see if there's any way that we [start] generating to give back to the community using a product that we made,'" he said.
Only 20 bottles of The Beast, a Alberta whisky flavoured by the 2016 Fort MacMurray wildfire, are left and will be available only through auction. (Nahreman Issa/CTV News Edmonton)The project presented an interesting opportunity to give back to the Fort McMurray community, and he said the team decided to auction off the whisky and give the proceeds to local charities.
Despite the whisky not being ready to bottle until six weeks ago, Parsons said 30 of the 50 bottles made have already sold for a total of more than $140,000.
At least one bottle sold for $10,000.
"From what I know, I think that is the most expensive bottle of Canadian-made whisky ever in history," he said. "It shows what that community is all about."
All the proceeds from the whisky are going to the Fort McMurray Firefighters Charities Association, which distributes money to other local organizations.
The 2016 wildfire, nicknamed The Beast, forced around 90,000 northern Albertans from their homes. The fire, which at one point stretched over 580,000 hectares, destroyed entire neighbourhoods and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Parson said it's wonderful to see, that even six years later, people continue to support the community. He's happy to have been a part of that and to finally be able to deliver the bottles to their owners.
"For a lot of people, this product is a symbol of that time, it's probably one of the only things of that time that someone can open up and reflect [on]," he said.
"Time heals and they're getting through it. They're a resilient community up there and I was very happy to make this product for them."
Parsons said at least one more auction is planned and will be held in Jasper, Alta.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.