from here, some things have to come from further away. But we try and source as local as we can. Or do it ourselves. For example, we are keeping bees on the top of the distillery. So hopefully by next year, all the sweeteners we use in the distillery will come from the honey of our own bees.” Monashee has gone the extra mile in becoming certified organic. That certification lends to credibility for their cus- tomers who insist on knowing exactly what they’re drinking and precisely where it came from. Josh points out, “Every- thing we do here is 100% certified organic. We are one of the very few organic distilleries in all of Canada.” “The village idiot who didn’t have enough money to pay me … was directly responsible for us starting a distillery.” The Revelstoke area, known for world-class skiing, is also a community that takes healthy lifestyles seriously. Much of the local agricultural philosophy is dedicated to organic growing and sustainable production techniques. So it made sense for Monashee to take the same route and appeal to the preferred lifestyle of the locals. “A lot of the farms around us are certified organic as well. We wanted to incorporate that into our business as being part of our personal mindsets. We want to be as socially responsible as possible with everything we do.”
sourcing pretty much everything in the production process requires in-depth checks on their suppliers’ production practices as well as ethics scans. Throw that on top of trying to remain competitive in the marketplace and you have a bit of a tightrope upon which to walk. “We can’t just go into a store and buy something off the shelf to use in our distilling because we just don’t know where it came from… For example, originally in our first business plan, we listed the cleaning products we were going to use and the organic board said ‘No! These products are toxic chemicals. You can’t use them and keep your certification.’ And we thought, holy smokes! This is a bit of an eye-opener for us.” A large part of their organic circle of life means finding ways to deal with waste from the distillery. To this end, Monashee partners with organic farms in the area to recycle their spent grains. Once they have used them to distill, the spent grains are sent back into the agricultural process and used to provide nutrients for the next batch of grains. In one case, the spent grains are even used as compost that provides enough heat during decomposition to keep a greenhouse at a constant 22 degrees Celsius in the winter. These are the types of processes that Monashee and their organic supply chain deem important to maintain the quality of life and business in Revelstoke. While it may cost a little more to ensure the products are 100% organic when they leave the distillery, Josh points out that there is a sizeable niche market that is more than willing to absorb a slightly higher retail price. “The demographic that appreciates 100% organic, REALLY appreciates it. They aren’t the people that will just throw back any alcohol into
Josh confessed that taking the “certified organic” route has occasionally proven to be challenging. For example,
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2017
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