Diony Distillery from Red Deer Alberta reached out recently asking if we’d be interested in trying their whiskies and of course, we said … of course! The whiskies recently arrived and we gave them a shot, so here’s a little about the distillery, their core expressions, and our thoughts on them.

Diony refers to Dionysus, the creator of wine from Greek mythology, which we aren’t going to rehash here because we’re more interested in whisky than marketing, but we encourage you to check out their website to learn more!

Stéphane Pilon is the master distiller at Diony and is PASSIONATE about supporting local, sustainability, reducing waste, plastics and emissions and this comes through in everything they do at the distillery.

First the grains – they source everything from the Canadian prairies and as close as possible to the distillery. The barley is from a malt house 15km away and the rye is from central Alberta. They also donate the spent grains back to local farmers as many distilleries do. They sent samples of the 4 grains they use in their whiskies and I gave them a taste which trigger a somewhat embarrassing personal anecdote – they taste like the chicken feed I would feed my pet chickens growing up… which I only know because yes, i would eat it occasionally as a snack. (it’s actually good, don’t judge).

The Barrels they use are from a local cooperage in Alberta as well, and they use a variety of custom char levels and different oak types (french, american, etc) to create their various whiskies. They’re actually now making/aging some rum so they can 1. sell a rum, but 2. have rum barrels to age their whiskies in!

Their process is focused on both flavour and sustainability – they use a mashbill vs distilling separate grains and they use a lower temp, longer fermentation (up to 2wks) to reduce energy use and maximize the grain character left in the spirit. Their bottles cork seals are made of compostable materials as well, which is the first time I’d come across that in the spirits world. Nothing’s chill filtered, and no added colour.

All that is great, but now you’re asking HOW DO THEY TASTE? Well, Diony started operations in 2018 and just opened to the public in 2023, releasing their whiskies pretty recently at ages ranging from ~3-3.5 years old. Not going to lie – the youthfulness shows a bit, but it makes sense since they are young. They do show potential with some more time and we like the innovative approach with grain and barrel use.

• Roasted Malt single cask: 46.7% ABV, 38 months in #3 char french oak, 2/3 malted rye, balance is roasted malt barley and oats. This one is a little weird for me but intriguing. It has some dark chocolate notes and coffee in there and reminds me of the chocolate malt from Central City for obvious reasons. I’d sip this around the campfire (ironic given the name of another one below) or add it to my coffee at the cottage for a little kick around noon.
• Prairie Trio: 48.6% ABV, 40 Months in #2 and #2 char french oak barrels, combination of 2/3 malted rye, plus malted barley and oats. I imagine a similar mashbill to the roasted malt whisky, but using non-roasted malt. This one might be my favourite of the line-up. It’s got some really nice spice from the rye and the barrels, and it doesn’t have as much of the young spirit taste as some of the others. It’s also interestingly the cheapest of their spirits on their website, so if you do want to go buy one after this post, we recommend this guy!
• Port cask Finish: 50% ABV, 43 months in #2 and #2 french oak, finished in port barrel (assuming 3 months given the age difference between this and the trio). Same mashbill as above, 2/3 rye with malt and oats. You really taste the port finish on this one. Dr. Don Livermore has a PhD to prove it only really takes 3 months to impart a finish impact on a spirit and this backs it up. It still has the spice of the Trio but adds some nice fruitiness and subtle sweet notes. It’s quite nice but I still prefer the grain forward Prairie Trio to this as the port kind of mutes some of those notes. If you have more of a sweet tooth this is the pick.

The Campfire is the one they sent a full bottle of, so we’re really hoping it is as good as the Trio. This one is batch 2 at 46.8% ABV, we assume the same mashbill as the two above but it wasn’t specified for us. Aged in #2 and #3 french oak like the above, but finished in a heavily smoke rum barrel (now we see why they want to make rum!). It’s tasty – you get the sweet molasses notes from the rum barrel for sure, and the grain comes through too. Very subtle smoke. The spice from the rye is muted by the rum barrel a little, but it’s still there, especially with a couple drops of water. Baking spices etc, no rum funk. This is quite nice, still prefer the trio for the more rye forward profile, but that’s a personal opinion.

So should you buy this? As with many ‘craft’ distilleries, prices are pretty high for a bottle compared to established distilleries overseas. Not gonna lie, with inflation I’m hard pressed to spend a ton on a bottle these days unless it’s really special. But here are arguments on both sides:

YES, BUY NOW IF:

• You’re in Alberta and want to promote AB distilleries, this one seems like they’re doing it right and you should buy whichever you like best to help them keep growing/maturing/creating.
• You like trying something new/novel/off the beaten path. Most Canadian whiskies follow the base corn spirit + flavouring spirit formula. This one is like an Americanized version, plus more cask experimentation. (North of 7 is another fun one doing this) So buy one if you want to see a mashbill style Canadian whisky!
• You love Greek Mythology

NO, DO NOT BUY, IF:

• You hate that younger/3yr spirit profile. This has it – that’s unavoidable given their age. Buy accordingly.
• You don’t take flyers on bottles at $120+. We love Alberta whisky prices – so many amazing deals. The value proposition for craft distilleries is tough and we get that. If you aren’t one to spend that cash on a young spirit, don’t do it here, and wait a few years to buy one of their bottles because they’re doing it the right way and I THINK it’ll be worth it once they’re putting age statements on the bottles!

Thanks Stephane and Diony for sending us these samples. As promised we’re tough but fair and won’t sugar coat the plusses and minuses. Looking forward to some dockside Diony this coming cottage season!