Interview With The Distiller
How did you get into making spirits?
People get a good laugh out of it but I probably made alcohol for the first time when I was maybe five or seven years old. My family are farmers…there was always a jar of some spirit going around, as well as the stories of some mythical spirit that someone once made.
My Dad, brother and I used to make beer and sometimes there was a still running somewhere. We also used to get used barrels from the large distilleries and reuse them. I was never allowed to drink any of the product but I was involved in everything else.
How did you choose the name Lucid Spirits?
I didn’t put much time or thought into it. It feels like the name chose me. There were actually two names that came to me. When choosing, one wasn’t the smartest so it became Lucid Spirits Distilling Co. pretty much right away.
Does the name have any meaning to you then if you didn’t spend too much time choosing it?
It’s ironic that I didn’t put much thought into it because the name has a lot of meaning for me. Lucid Spirits is all about clarity and it’s a path in life I’m committed to.
Can you elaborate on that?
Lucid Spirits is about creating and celebrating clarity in life. For example, when sourcing ingredients I know exactly where they came from and in a lot of cases I’ve met the growers. When putting together the recipes, I focus on the integrity of each ingredient versus creating a big mixed pot. The branding, the names of the products down to the labels; it’s clear and without ambiguity.
Everything is about the relationships and the ensuing product inside versus any gimmicks. And then finally there’s the clarity that comes when I can personally put the product in the hands of the Lucid ones. In a day and age where we don’t have much of a personal insight into where the products in our homes originate from, I’ve committed to creating clarity.
For me Lucid Spirits is all about uncomplicated, pure with a clear connection. Everything is done with intention.
How did you come up with the logo/design in name? What does it mean?
That was something that came to me randomly. I was walking on English Bay Beach in Vancouver one day. There had been a bad storm the night before and there was lots of wood debris everywhere. I picked up a 10 foot long or so hooked tree branch. I was holding one end and I dropped the hooked end in the sand and pulled it. I picked it up, dropped it in the sand and pulled it again. I did it one more time, tossed the branch to one side, walked over to what was scratched out in the sand and looked at it. It was this design. I took a picture of it and decided right there that that would be the logo. Looking at it after it was on paper, it reminded me of the alcohol vapours as they flow through the columns. I remember thinking to myself: sometimes in life things are hard to come by and other times they’re right in front of a person. This was the later for me.
