I am a Vancouver-based drinks journalist, consultant and educator. I am a WSET Spirits Educator to Level 3 and WSET Certified in Wine, an SWE Certified Specialist of Spirits, an SMWS Scotch educator and an artisan distiller trained at Moonshine University in Louisville, KY. I’m the lead judge of the Canadian Artisan Spirits Competition and an expert on B.C. spirits who also leads distillery tours and guides spirits tastings.
A former editor at The Globe and Mail, of Western Living and of Air Canada’s enRoute, and a former creative lead at three content agencies (see some of my corporate and agency work here), I am currently the Drinks Editor for Food & Drink, the in-store magazine of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
“Charlene was wonderful! A truly dizzying experience.”
– CORPORATE virtual scotch-tasting clientS, holiday 2020
“I think we can all agree she did a wonderful presentation.”
“Charlene is a great educator. I learned a lot.”
“Her knowledge is mind-boggling!”
“Your presentation was very informative, and your breadth of knowledge is phenomenal.”
– LES DAMES D’ESCOFFIER, BC CHAPTER, PRIVATE VIRTUAL SCOTCH TASTING, 2021
“We had a very fun afternoon touring distilleries with Charlene.”
“We had a wonderful time getting to know the city and local distilleries with Charlene and highly recommend this experience to newcomers to Vancouver!”
“Charlene is a wonderful, expert guide and I highly recommend this tour to everyone interested in learning about and tasting B.C. craft spirits.”“Great way to see Vancouver while learning about spirits. Charlene is an expert and enjoys her work. The experience exceeded our expectations. This was one of the highlights of our vacation.”
– Airbnb experiences guests from NORTH carolina, texas, SAN FRANCISCO + MICHIGAN
Distill. 