Canadian producer Sons of Vancouver has surpassed its funding target of CA$500,000 (US$360,000) within its first week, as the distillery aims to ramp up rye whisky production.
Sons of Vancouver distillery was founded by James Lester in 2015
The North Vancouver-based distillery launched a crowdfunding campaign on FrontFundr, which has raised CA$657,240 (US$471,600) to date.
The company intends to continue raising funds for the next month as it progresses towards a maximum offering of CA$1.5 million (US$1.01m).
The money will help Sons of Vancouver to significantly increase the amount of rye whisky it can produce and lay down liquid for future releases.
Founded in 2015 by James Lester, the distillery initially produced liqueurs, including Quadruple Sec and No.82 Amaretto, before moving into rye whisky production.
Sons of Vancouver has explored rye whisky across tropical fruit, citrus, cacao, mint and dark fruit flavour profiles.
The company is aiming to show that “rye can become the kind of flavour-driven whisky category that drinkers already recognise in single malt”.
“We think rye is the best grain for making whisky,” said Lester. “The last several years have really been about showing people why. Now we need to make enough of it.”
Sons of Vancouver hopes to release whisky in five or six years but it has to be distilled, paid for and put into barrels today, the producer noted.
Limited releases have repeatedly sold out on release day, Sons of Vancouver claimed.
“We’ve proven that people want the whisky,” Lester added. “What we’re trying to solve now is how much of it we can afford to put away before we need it.”
Capital raised through FrontFundr will support additional production infrastructure, increased whisky inventory and the continued development of markets where that whisky will eventually be sold.
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