Is it the water? The barley? Maybe the Chinook winds?

Today, it’s not exactly clear what would go into defining an “Alberta whisky” like one does a Kentucky or Tennessee bourbon.

But the provincial government wants to change that. Last month, Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally was tasked with defining the rules for a product to be legally labelled as Alberta whisky.

Ask a handful of distillers what that definition means to them, and their answers will vary.

In Diamond Valley, located south of Calgary, Eau Claire Distillery president and CEO David Farran stands near a mash tun, a large device used in whisky production to extract sugars from malted barley.

Eau Claire Distillery president and founder David Farran shows how the mash tun works at Eau Claire Dist

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