Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery: Twenty-Two Years On, Western Canada's Original Craft Distillery Is Still a Dyck Family Operation
How a 2004-founded Vernon distillery quietly built a portfolio of more than 40 internationally awarded spirits — from single malt and BC rye whisky to Taboo Genuine Absinthe — while staying…
May 1, 2026 · By Justin Plosz · Vernon, British Columbia · Business · 12 min read
The Quick Picture
Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery is, in its own words, "Western Canada's original craft distillery, dating back to 2004." That is a load-bearing sentence. The Canadian craft spirits boom is still relatively young; the bulk of the country's distilleries have opened in the last decade. Okanagan Spirits opened more than two decades ago, when craft distilling in Canada was, as a category, almost non-existent.
The company also self-describes as "BC's original farm-to-flask distillery," and the practical translation of that phrase is in the supply chain. Okanagan Spirits was founded on the idea of using 100% locally grown grains and fruits to make premium spirits — finished, in the company's framing, "just a tractor ride away from the orchards and fields where the base ingredients were grown." Twenty-two years in, the company describes itself as "100% Canadian from true farm to flask."
What began as one distillery is now two: a flagship in Vernon and a second independent operating location in Kelowna. Across both, the company offers more than 40 internationally awarded spirits — and that catalogue spans an unusually wide portfolio for a Canadian craft distiller. Whisky, gin, vodka, brandy, aquavit, fruit liqueurs, and Taboo Genuine Absinthe all sit on the same shelf, made by the same family operation.
The Dyck Family Operation
Okanagan Spirits is family-run by the Dyck family, and the leadership structure is documented and specific. Tony Dyck is President of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distilleries — described internally as "El Capitain" — and lives in Vernon with his wife, Pat. Their daughter, Melissa, also lives in Vernon, with two granddaughters. Sons Tyler and Jeremie, plus two more grandchildren and two granddogs, live in Kelowna.
Tyler Dyck is CEO of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distilleries, and also serves as President of the Craft Distillers' Guild of BC — the industry body that represents the province's craft distillers and engages with provincial liquor regulation on their behalf. That second role matters editorially. A CEO running their own operation is one thing; a CEO running their own operation while also chairing the industry's collective voice in their province is, in policy terms, sitting on both sides of the table.
The family geography is itself a tell. Two locations, in two Okanagan cities, with family on the ground in both. Vernon is home base for the founder generation; Kelowna is home base for the next. That structure is consistent with how multi-generational family businesses tend to evolve — adding capacity and jurisdiction without separating from the founders — and it sets the tone for how Okanagan Spirits is run.
Twenty-Two Years of Farm-to-Flask
The 2004 founding date is the part of the Okanagan Spirits story that is most easily underestimated. In 2004, Canadian craft distilling was barely a category. Most provincial liquor regulation was still written for industrial-scale producers. The infrastructure that today's craft operators take for granted — accessible small stills, established craft-spirits competitions, dedicated tasting room rules — was not yet in place.
Okanagan Spirits started anyway, on a farm-to-flask premise that has since become the default vocabulary of the entire Canadian craft sector. The premise was, and is, that the spirits should be made using 100% locally grown grains and fruits, and that the geographic proximity between the farm and the still should be short enough that the phrase "just a tractor ride away" is literal rather than poetic. That is a discipline that constrains a distillery, and it is the kind of constraint that produces a recognisable product over time.
The Okanagan is a useful place to make this kind of bet. The valley is one of the country's most productive fruit-growing regions, and it has the grain-growing depth, in nearby Interior agricultural areas, to back a serious whisky programme. Stacking the fruit and the grain into a single craft distillery — with one farm-to-flask philosophy linking them — is geographically logical, and Okanagan Spirits made that case before most others were in a position to.
The Portfolio: Forty-Plus Spirits, Multiple Categories
Okanagan Spirits now offers more than 40 internationally awarded spirits across an unusually wide range of categories: Single Malt, BRBN Bourbon-Style, BC Hopped Whisky, BC Rye Whisky, Gins, Vodkas, Fruit Liqueurs, Brandies, Aquavit, and Taboo Genuine Absinthe.
That list is editorially significant. Most craft distilleries pick a lane: they do gin, or they do whisky, or they do fruit eaux-de-vie. Okanagan Spirits does all of them, and each lane has internal differentiation. Within whisky alone, the portfolio includes a single malt (Scottish-style), a BRBN bourbon-style expression (American-style), a BC Hopped Whisky (a more experimental category that involves hops in the production), and a BC Rye Whisky (the Canadian classic).
The range outside whisky is just as deliberate. Brandies and fruit liqueurs lean into the Okanagan's orchard supply. Aquavit is a Scandinavian spirit that few Canadian distilleries make at all. Taboo Genuine Absinthe is the rarest of the bunch — absinthe was banned in many jurisdictions for most of the 20th century, and producing a true louche-forming, wormwood-based absinthe under a Canadian craft licence is a non-trivial project.
The "more than 40 internationally awarded" figure is the cumulative result of two decades of category entries. For a Canadian craft producer, that is a long, sustained competition record — not a single trophy but a body of work in the global spirits-judging circuit.
Vernon: The Flagship
The Vernon location is the company's flagship, at 5204 24th Street, Vernon, BC V1T 8X2, with a phone line at (250) 549-3120 and email at vernon@okanaganspirits.com. The flagship includes the distillery itself, a tasting room, an experience classroom, and a cocktail lounge — meaning a Vernon visit can range from a quick tasting flight to a longer, structured experience.
Standard hours at Vernon are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The location runs winter hours from January 2 through the May long weekend: Sunday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The presence of an experience classroom on site is part of what distinguishes a flagship craft distillery from a standard tasting room. It is the room where the company can run cocktail classes, education sessions, and structured tastings, all in the same building where the spirits are made. That tight loop — production, tasting, education, hospitality — is the operational version of the farm-to-flask philosophy. Once the grain or fruit arrives at Vernon, every step of the customer-facing experience happens under one roof.
The flagship is also the headquarters for the broader operation, and the public face of a 22-year-old family business that, by this point in its history, has hosted a substantial portion of the people who care about Canadian craft spirits at one event or another.
Kelowna: The Second Location
The Kelowna location is at 267 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna, BC, with a phone line at (778) 484-5174 and email at kelowna@okanaganspirits.com. It includes a distillery, tasting room, cocktail lounge, and patio — making it as much a downtown drinking destination as it is a production facility.
Kelowna hours run Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday through Wednesday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The presence of a patio is, in Okanagan summer terms, not incidental. Bernard Avenue is one of Kelowna's most-walked downtown streets, and a tasting room with outdoor seating at this address is built around the city's seasonal foot traffic.
The two-location structure also signals something about the craft category itself. Okanagan Spirits is large enough to operate two independent distillery locations and small enough that both still report up to the same family. That balance — production scale on one side, family ownership on the other — is rare in the Canadian beverage industry, where independent producers tend to either stay single-site or get acquired by larger groups once they reach a certain volume.
Both locations share central contact channels: a toll-free line at 1-888-292-5270 and a general inquiry email at info@okanaganspirits.com. For visitors planning ahead, the website at okanaganspirits.com is the canonical source for hours, current releases, and event programming.
Hours, Holidays, and the Distillery Insider
Across both locations, Okanagan Spirits closes for Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day. Christmas Eve hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and New Year's Eve hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Vernon's full standard schedule is Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a winter schedule (Sunday through Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) that runs from January 2 through the May long weekend. Kelowna runs Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday through Wednesday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The company also runs a Distillery Insider newsletter that offers 10% off a first order, plus quarterly draws, for new subscribers. For customers ordering online or planning to visit, the newsletter is the company's standing channel for new-release announcements and limited drops.
One practical note for visitors: a portfolio with more than 40 spirits will rotate. Not every release will be on the shelf in every season, and limited bottles tend to move quickly out of a tasting room with a strong local following. Visitors looking for a specific expression — an absinthe, a particular whisky cask finish, a seasonal fruit liqueur — are well advised to call ahead at (250) 549-3120 in Vernon or (778) 484-5174 in Kelowna, or check the website before driving in.
The PRC Editorial View
Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery is, in 2026, a quietly canonical Canadian craft business. The category-defining lines — "Western Canada's original craft distillery," "BC's original farm-to-flask distillery," "100% Canadian from true farm to flask," "more than 40 internationally awarded spirits" — are not typical brand copy. They are the specific claims of an operation that has been around long enough to make them.
What is most editorially interesting is the operational discipline behind the breadth. A craft distillery making one award-winning gin is on a believable trajectory. A craft distillery making more than 40 internationally awarded spirits, across categories ranging from single malt whisky to Taboo Genuine Absinthe, is running something closer to a small spirits company — and is doing so as a family-run operation, with the founder still in the president's chair.
Tyler Dyck's parallel role as President of the Craft Distillers' Guild of BC reinforces the broader picture: this is a producer that has been simultaneously building its own portfolio and helping shape the policy environment for the rest of the BC craft sector. Not every craft distillery in Western Canada will be around in 2046, but the ones that are will have spent their first two decades doing roughly what the Dyck family has spent its last two decades doing in Vernon and Kelowna.
Key takeaways
- Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery self-describes as Western Canada's original craft distillery, dating back to 2004, and as BC's original farm-to-flask distillery.
- Family-run by the Dyck family, with Tony Dyck as President and Tyler Dyck as CEO and President of the Craft Distillers' Guild of BC.
- More than 40 internationally awarded spirits across Single Malt, BRBN Bourbon-Style, BC Hopped Whisky, BC Rye Whisky, Gins, Vodkas, Fruit Liqueurs, Brandies, Aquavit, and Taboo Genuine Absinthe.
- Founded on the principle of using 100% locally grown grains and fruits — "100% Canadian from true farm to flask."
- Two independent operating distillery locations: the flagship in Vernon (5204 24th Street, V1T 8X2) and a second in Kelowna (267 Bernard Avenue).
- Vernon flagship includes distillery, tasting room, experience classroom, and cocktail lounge; Kelowna includes distillery, tasting room, cocktail lounge, and patio.
- Distillery Insider newsletter offers 10% off a first order plus quarterly draws.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery?
- Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery is a family-run craft distillery in the Okanagan, founded in 2004. It self-describes as Western Canada's original craft distillery and as BC's original farm-to-flask distillery, and now offers more than 40 internationally awarded spirits, made from 100% locally grown grains and fruits, out of two independent operating distillery locations in Vernon and Kelowna.
- Who runs the company?
- Okanagan Spirits is family-run by the Dyck family. Tony Dyck is President of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distilleries (described internally as "El Capitain") and lives in Vernon with his wife, Pat. Tyler Dyck is CEO of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distilleries and also serves as President of the Craft Distillers' Guild of BC.
- Where are the two locations?
- The flagship is at 5204 24th Street, Vernon, BC V1T 8X2, with a phone line at (250) 549-3120 and email at vernon@okanaganspirits.com. The second location is at 267 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna, BC, with a phone line at (778) 484-5174 and email at kelowna@okanaganspirits.com. The toll-free line is 1-888-292-5270, and general inquiries can go to info@okanaganspirits.com.
- What are the standard hours?
- Vernon's standard hours are Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From January 2 through the May long weekend, Vernon runs winter hours: Sunday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kelowna's hours are Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday to Wednesday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
- What spirits does Okanagan Spirits make?
- The portfolio currently includes more than 40 internationally awarded spirits across Single Malt, BRBN Bourbon-Style, BC Hopped Whisky, BC Rye Whisky, Gins, Vodkas, Fruit Liqueurs, Brandies, Aquavit, and Taboo Genuine Absinthe. Specific releases rotate; the website at okanaganspirits.com is the source of truth for current availability.
- What does "farm-to-flask" mean here?
- Okanagan Spirits was founded on the idea of using 100% locally grown grains and fruits to make premium spirits, with finished products that are "just a tractor ride away from the orchards and fields where the base ingredients were grown." Two decades in, the company describes itself as "100% Canadian from true farm to flask."
- Are the locations closed on holidays?
- Yes. Both locations are closed on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day. Christmas Eve hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and New Year's Eve hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Is there a way to save on a first online order?
- The Distillery Insider newsletter offers 10% off a first order, plus quarterly draws, for new subscribers. Sign up through the website at okanaganspirits.com.
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