Comox Valley craft distillery hit hard by COVID-19

Dave Brimacombe opened Wayward Distillery six years ago and its selection of spirits was a hit from the beginning, but that changed in a flash when COVID-19 hit.

“Oh yeah, it was cataclysmic. We lost about 70 per cent of our sales basically overnight,” said Brimabombe.

And that might be surprising considering overall sales of liquor in B.C. went up at the same time.

According to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, sales increased 21.5 per cent in March and April over the same two months in 2019

But for Wayward sales went down.

“When the shutdown hit, we were hit with restaurants closing where a lot of our business is plus a lot of people went home and they just stopped purchasing,” added Brimacombe.

The difference he says is that people started buying inexpensive liquor instead of that made at craft distilleries like his.

“As an industry, we’re made here in your towns, we employ local people, we pay local rent, we pay local taxes. It just costs more to make a bottle of alcohol in your hometown and because of that added cost we’re seeing a reduction in craft sales,” he said.

Elsewhere, at Cascadia Liquor in Courtenay, more people are buying B.C. and Vancouver Island wines during the pandemic.

“I’ve had a couple of conversations with customers and I think the main reason is they’re all hoping to support the community they live in,” said Cascadia Liquor General Manager Jeff Lucas. “We know that we’re one big community and this is the time that we need to actually support each other and if we don’t then businesses are in trouble and we want to do what we can to help them all out.”

Back at Wayward, the business is hoping they will see more local sales.

Brimacombe doesn’t know if his business will survive past December and interestingly it has only made it this far because sales of hand sanitizer have filled the gap.

But those sales have also made him ineligible for federal government assistance.

Sanitizer sales have now slowed down as well and a government exemption that allows him to make and sell it is about to expire

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