Shop Local

Fall harvest, Thanksgiving, Halloween – so many things to be thankful for this season. In this issue, we are shining light on a few of Alberta’s well-known movers and shakers plus sending kudos to those who started new businesses during the pandemic. The celebrations in your homes may look different for many reasons
as some of us reflect on loved ones lost but will also be a time to create new memories, and relish in time spent with those we care about most.

This month our Shop Local column also features these amazing local products: pasta and sauce from Sunterra Market, honey almonds and Bodacious Black Current Mead Chinook Honey, Raven and Orca Moon Platters and Bowls from Springbank Cheese Co. Willow Park Village and Crowfoot and All-Purpose Flour from Harvest Moon Mills.

Alchemist Vinegars

Like many business owners trying to stay afloat, former engineer Paul Poutanen knows a thing or two about facing adversity. His distillery Tippa Inc. makes handcrafted small-batch gin and rum (Lovebird Gin, Wood Duck Oaked Gin and Magpie Rum,) but when the pandemic hit and sales started to drop, he switched gears to producing hand sanitizers. Another slow-down forced him to rethink his plan leading to the creation of Alchemist Vinegar using a secret ingredient to ramp up production. Poutanen explains vinegar is made from alcohol and his process involves starting with making a honey mead using yeast for fermentation. Once the cycle is complete and the solution turned to alcohol with no sugar remaining, the vinegar process starts using the secret ingredient – birch bark. The vinegar debuted late last year at Christmas markets and sold out. There are 20 vinegars currently in the line-up with more in the testing phase. While more common in the Middle East and Mediterranean, this style of vinegar is slowly catching on in Canada using local, raw honey. The Honey Blackened Garlic is the most popular of the bunch offering a deep garlic flavour, the Honey Pineapple is delicious on ceviche, or in cocktails, and the Honey Curry vinegar packs a punch and is great in soups. All vinegar’s are unpasteurized and contain the mother. Currently available for purchase online.

Alchemist Vinegars | Alchemist Vinegar | $14-$17 | tippadistillery.square.site