Salt Spring Shine Craft Distillery

Salt Spring Shine Craft Distillery does something genuinely distinctive: it ferments 100% BC honey into spirit, then bottles everything by hand on-site. The result is a small but characterful range, including Sting Gin built on ten organic botanicals like juniper, lavender and rose, a clean Hive Vodka, a high-proof Honeycomb Moonshine, and a warmly spiced Apple Pie Moonshine made with BC apples. A culinary sensibility runs through it all, fitting for a family operation founded by former Cordon Bleu chefs and restaurant owners who bring a cook's instinct for flavour and balance to distilling.

The distillery on Kitchen Road welcomes visitors for tours and tastings, where you can see the hands-on, built-it-ourselves ethos up close and sample across the honey-based lineup. Tasting the gin's botanical lift against the smoothness of the honey vodka is a great way to understand what fermentation from honey, rather than grain, brings to the glass. The vibe is personal and artisanal, very much in keeping with Salt Spring's self-sufficient, locally minded character.

Salt Spring Island is the busiest and best-loved of the Gulf Islands for food and drink travellers, and this distillery slots neatly into a day of farm-gate stops, markets, and island scenery. Hours run more generously through spring, summer and fall and tighten in winter, so it is smart to confirm before visiting, especially off-season. With its emphasis on local fruit, organic botanicals and honey from BC beekeepers, Salt Spring Shine is a stop for anyone who wants their spirits tied to a real place and made by real hands. Come for the novelty of honey-based distilling and stay for the warm, chef-led welcome.