Fintry Old Fashioned

• 2 oz Okanagan Spirits Laird of Fintry Single Malt Whisky 
• ⅓ oz Apricot liqueur
• ¼ oz Nocino
• 1 Bsp Maple syrup
• 1 dash Elemakule Tiki bitters
• Stir ingredients in ice for 20-30 seconds, strain over a large rock of ice in an Old Fashioned glass
• Garnish with a lemon twist

Happy Friday, friends!

This week’s cocktail is an original–one that pays tribute to the bounty of Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley through the familiar, time-tested lens of an Old Fashioned.

Say hello to the Fintry Old Fashioned.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Okanagan Valley is one of Canada’s most productive agricultural regions. It produces roughly 80% of British Columbia’s tree fruit and 86% of the province’s vineyard acreage, generating an estimated $3.75B annually from wine and another $700M from tree fruit. That scale isn’t accidental.

The valley’s productivity rests on two foundations. First, its glacial history, which left behind layered soils–sands, silts, and clays–on ancient lake benches that provide rich, varied growing conditions. Second, its distinct climate: hot, sunny summers; relatively mild winters; a rain-shadow effect that limits excess moisture; and carefully managed irrigation that supports high-value crops like grapes and stone fruit. Together, geology and climate make the Okanagan unusually generous.

With last week’s events–which I’ll come back to shortly–I wanted to create something original that felt sourced from this place. The result is an Old Fashioned that leans into local single-malt whisky, stone fruit, and nuts, finished with baking spice notes that pull everything together.

I’ll admit: I rarely drink single-malt whiskies that aren’t from Scotland–and even those have been slipping down my rotation in recent years. Between bourbon, rye, and Canadian whisky, my dance card has been full. Historically, single malts–especially those produced in the U.S.–often struck me as overly bitter. If whisky styles were beers, single malts felt like IPAs: admired, but not my thing.

That changed last summer.

Through a promotion, I was introduced to Okanagan Spirits’ quadruple-gold award-winning Laird of Fintry single-malt whisky. Instead of leading with malt intensity, it layers that character behind more familiar whisky notes: toasted oak, vanilla, plum, raisins, caramel, and warming spice. Much of that depth comes from additional aging in Quails’ Gate Foch wine barrels, resulting in a single malt I genuinely enjoy neat.

The name itself, Laird of Fintry, pays homage to the early 1900s, when Captain Dun-Waters, the Laird, or Lord, of the Fintry Delta, imported himself–and his private-label whisky–from Scotland to the shores of Okanagan Lake. His legacy lives on today at Fintry Provincial Park. This cask-strength whisky has the backbone to stand up to apricot liqueur and Nocino without being pushed aside, which is exactly what this drink demands.

The Nocino nods to another Okanagan institution: Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park in West Kelowna. Now a provincially run historic site, it’s where the Gellatly brothers pioneered hardy nut cultivation, including walnuts. Many of those original trees still produce today and are available for public harvest each fall. The walnut-based bitterness of Nocino provides a grounding counterpoint to the cocktail’s stone fruit sweetness.

The Okanagan Valley itself runs north to south, creating several distinct agricultural zones. Hardier fruits–apples and cherries–dominate the north, while softer stone fruits thrive further south. Apricots, in particular, flourish here. In fact, the Okanagan and adjacent Similkameen Valley produce roughly 91% of British Columbia’s apricots, including varietals like Tomcot, Goldbar, and Perfection. These trees love south-facing slopes but remain vulnerable to early spring frosts, one reason growers increasingly diversify in the face of climate volatility along the 49th and 50th parallels. Thankfully, apricot liqueur lets the fruit live on well beyond harvest season.

To tie everything together, I imagined an apricot cobbler fresh from the oven and reached for baking spice. Bittermens Elemakule Tiki bitters, which featured in last week’s Ozymandias cocktail, was the obvious choice. It’s blend of cinnamon, clove, allspice, and citrus orange complements both the whisky and the fruit beautifully.

The lemon twist greets you first–bright and aromatic. On the palate, the single malt lays down a foundation of oak, vanilla, plum, and spice. From there, sweet apricot, bitter walnut, and warming baking spices braid together seamlessly. As the drink moves across the tongue, the barspoon of maple syrup adds viscosity and cohesion, funneling the Nocino’s bitterness toward the back of the palate and leaving a long, balanced finish that’s equal parts stone fruit sweetness and nutty depth.

As you take in all this valley has to offer–fields, orchards, vineyards, and the massive ribbon of Okanagan Lake running through it–I hope this Fintry Old Fashioned gives form to the promise of a better life north of the 49th.

This cocktail was also inspired by the first event in our new Cocktails & Spirits Tasting series for the Kelowna Newcomers Club. I launched the series to meet a clear demand–something to complement wine tastings and brewery tours–but also to push myself out into the distilleries and cocktail bars of the Okanagan.

Our inaugural event took place at Okanagan Spirits, home to an impressive lineup of whiskies, gins, vodkas, fruit liqueurs, and Canada’s first genuine absinthe. Their downtown Kelowna tasting hall is welcoming and intimate; their Vernon facility, I’m told, operates at a much larger scale.

The evening exceeded expectations. Our guide walked us through tastings of BRBN, 1MALT, and RYE, explaining how each serves as a base before additional aging creates their expanded lineup. BRBN sees time in Rhum Agricole casks for its Blue and Black labels. The 1MALT matures in Foch wine barrels to become Laird of Fintry. The RYE also visits Rhum Agricole barrels for its Blue label expression. It felt like a candy store for whisky lovers.

But the most rewarding part wasn’t the liquid–it was the stories. Many members shared tales of whiskies lost during moves, whisky introductions via grandfathers, and deeply personal rituals around ordering or drinking whisky. With most attendees being Canadian, many stories were uniquely so: preferences among rye styles, regional loyalties, and inherited habits. Whisky may be a precise science, but it’s these narratives that put the spirit into whisky.

Okanagan Spirits likes to say, “Whiskey is what we do.” That night, I learned something else: whisky is what Canadians do.

By the end of the evening, feedback was unequivocal. Members loved the experience, and several cited my own enthusiasm as part of what made it special. As they headed out, I encouraged them to tell their friends. 

“Do we have to?” came the collective reply, revealing their desire to keep something good to themselves.

So here I am, sipping a Fintry Old Fashioned and planning February’s tequila tasting at Cantina del Centro, raising a glass to the Kelowna Newcomers Club and the Okanagan’s vibrant cocktail and spirits community. This future I’m shaping excites me deeply–and it’s one I’ll gladly drink to.

Cheers! 🍁🥃