Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci was at Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley Friday with some good news for the province's smaller-scale liquor producers.

The Alberta Government is reducing its mark-up for manufacturers for self-distribution of beverages such as spirits, ciders, mead, wine and coolers.

Ceci says the mark-up reduction is expected to boost the ability of small-scale liquor manufacturers to invest in their businesses.

"It's going to allow them to put more into their businesses," Ceci says, "to hire more people, to expand their production lines and to have more product available for Albertans."

For example, the per litre mark-up on self-distributed spirits will be reduced from $13.67 to $2.46, a difference of $11.21. The rate cut will benefit the province's smaller producers, selling their products at venues such as  farmer's markets, artisan markets or from their own manufacturing facilities.

"As David Farran, the owner of Eau Claire was saying, this is a grain-to-glass experience where agricultural inputs go into the glass and we all enjoy that," Ceci says. "So this is really a good thing for diversification for Albertans in general."

For craft distillers like Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley, that opens doors for investment back into their business.

Eau Claire Distillery Founder and President David Farran says the announcement is great news for the industry.

"It allows us further investment in our distillery," he explains. "It allows us to hire some more people and it allows us to grow and purchase some capital equipment by giving us a better ultimate margin. So, it's a really important move for us. It puts us on a level playing field with other provinces and it also just helps spur the development of small companies."

The launch of Alberta's first single malt whisky, produced by Eau Claire Distilleries, was also celebrated Friday.

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