Surrey’s DRAGON MIST DISTILLERY relies on SOUTH PEACE GRAIN CLEANING CO-OP for wheat to make its spirits

Before Sherry Jiang immigrated to Vancouver in 2004, she was a physician in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian. Deciding not to pursue medicine in Canada because it would take too long to get a licence, she also noticed that members of the Chinese community had a hard time finding baiju, a wheat-based liquor that is the most popular alcoholic beverage in her native land. So in 2012, Jiang—drawing on knowledge from her grandparents, who ran a distilling business—launched Dragon Mist Distillery.

he Surrey-based company, which went to market in 2014, now makes baiju, vodka, gin and a variety of liqueurs, including blueberry and cranberry. Because it’s a craft distillery, Dragon Mist must source its ingredients in B.C. For wheat, Jiang depends on Dawson Creek’s South Peace Grain Cleaning Co-op. “We work very well together,” says the sole permanent employee of Surrey Board of Trade member Dragon Mist, which produced about 7,400 litres of spirits last year. “Whatever we need, they will give us.”