(Phantom Light Distillery/Facebook)

By paNOW Staff

BEST IN THE PROVINCE

‘It’s just fabulous’: P.A. distillery wins big at the 2023 ABEX Awards

Sep 17, 2023 | 12:00 PM

In the last two and half years, one Prince Albert company has started from humble beginnings to winning international awards and now they can add an ABEX Award to their trophy case.

Phantom Light Distillery took home the New Venture Award at the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce ABEX Awards this weekend. The distillery was up against four different companies including The Prairie Grazer from Saskatoon and REV Auto Group in Regina.

Company partner Brendan Miller said the team was a bit surprised that they won but extremely excited.

“We’re doing lots of great things around the province and we’re growing by leaps and bounds but to have that recognition in front of some amazing Saskatchewan companies, it’s just fabulous.”

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Since hitting the market in the spring of 2020, Phantom Light has taken off and attracted a legion of fans across the province. It’s even garnered the attention of spirits enthusiasts internationally as they received a Platinum award at the International Spirits Competition (SIP) last year.

The company has also made several partnerships including the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Calgary Stampede, and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, which named it the league’s official vodka.

To say it’s been a lot of work in that time is an understatement, according to Miller who told paNOW that it’s extremely tiring but worth it.

“Our team is working every single day. It’s hard work but it’s paying off,” he said, adding the partnership with the SJHL allows them to build relationships with the smaller communities in the province.

“We’ll be in all those little communities throughout the province including all the way from Flin Flon to North Battleford, La Ronge, all the way down south to Melville, Weyburn and Estevan. Being that the league is just starting and there’s 12 different teams, that’s going to be our focus for a little while is just reconnecting those old friendships that come along every winter season.”

With no end in sight to the busyness and a full schedule ahead for Phantom Light, Miller said they’ll be working just as hard in the coming months. Despite this, he said they wouldn’t be putting in the long hours if they didn’t believe in their product or didn’t have the passion for it to succeed.

“It’s not easy to do what we’re doing but we have a special kind of a product,” he said. “Our vodka is different than everybody else’s, we think it’s the best in the world so that makes our jobs easier. If we put in the work, it comes to us easier because we just have this exceptional product to sell.”

Athabasca Basin Developments, which has an office in Prince Albert, was a finalist for the Community Involvement Award which went to Wiegers Financial & Benefits from Saskatoon.

In recent years, other Prince Albert businesses have either been nominated or finished on top at the ABEX Awards.

Last year, Pet Planet Prince Albert was nominated and won the ABEX Service Award while Tayler Korycki of Korycki Mechanical was a finalist for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2021, Cody Demerais, the founder of Limitless Gear Clothing was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

In 2020, Richard Ahenakew received the Roger Phillips Chamber Builder Award at the ABEX ceremony.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com