Pivot Spirits owners raising a glass to new starts and growing the business

The following year, Hirch took a five-day distilling course in Kelowna, B.C., came home with a copper still and got to work. He found a passion for distilling at the same time he realized he was losing his passion for farming, which he’d done for 30 years.

Hirch and Fiset began pivoting to what became Pivot Spirits. Six years later they are toasting their growing business in Rolling Hills, Alta.

The name was a joint effort between the two, each coming at it from a different angle.

“I was kind of looking at things that related to my farming and, and irrigation is big part of what we do here and so I ran through some names,” Hirch says. “I was running them by Rachelle and when I said pivot, right away Rachelle said ‘yes, that that’s the word.’ So I was thinking pivot for pivot irrigation systems, Rachelle was thinking pivot for pivoting what you’re doing.”

Ground was broken in 2018 and production began in March 2020. Now Pivot has a line of 12 bottle spirits and four ready-to-drink canned beverages. More are on the way.

“I think it’s important to always be trying to make new products that people like and to be innovative,” Fiset says.

She adds some products are really good and are kept and others don’t work that well, saying it’s a bit like a science experiment. She says they are always researching new drink ideas themselves and also get ideas from customers.

With Hirch focused on distilling, Fiset has built out the public-facing part of the business.

There’s a restaurant that offers live entertainment, distillery tours and a campground out back

“Because we are so remote we really needed to create an experience for people that they really wanted to come and see us and spend some time here and then come again and again,” says Fiset.

She says they have a lot of regular customers from the agricultural community in the Medicine Hat-Brooks-Lethbridge triangle, laughing that the restaurant gets noticeably slower when it’s a busy time of year for farmers.

The supportive relationship goes both ways.

“For us, it’s really important to be able to use local products, says Fiset. “So we’ve sourced some honey that we used to sweeten our liqueurs and some berries that are grown locally for our Honey Haskap Liqueur that we make.”

The honey is bought from Scandia Honey, while the berries are purchased from a farmer north of Lethbridge.

“I think it ties in a little bit about connecting with especially urban people to some of the good things we do out here and this irrigation area of Alberta is super productive,” Hirch says. “We have about five per cent of the farmland in Alberta and produce about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product and so the value added here is really huge. I just like to be a part of that. Utilize my neighbours’ products as well as my own in bringing these spirits that actually are unique to irrigated crops.”

They also strive to incorporate environmentally friendly and sustainable practices into the farming and distilling processes using solar panels for power, reusing water and feeding spent mash to cows.

Pivot Spirits products can be found at South Country Co-op stores, Trackside Liquor, Crossroads Liquor, Hat Liquor and Southwest Liquor Store in Medicine Hat, and you can visit the distillery on Fourth Street in Rolling Hills.

by Chris Brown

Pivot Spirits owners raising a glass to new starts and growing the business

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