A river, an elk, a name.
How a whisky club in Alberta came to carry a Highland name, and what it does on a first Thursday.
A name, twice over
The Red Deer River is the Waskasoo Seepee in Cree: the Elk River.
Early traders, British or Scottish depending on who tells it, looked at the elk and saw the red deer of the Highlands. The river took that name, and the city took it from the river.
So the club is named for an Alberta animal wearing a Scottish name, which suits a club that pours Scotch in central Alberta.
The elk on our crest comes from an 1890 engraving of a bull wapiti calling, the sound the bulls make across the valleys every autumn. It is drawn as itself, not as a Highland stag.
We kept the elk. We kept the Scotch.
A club that moves house
The club has never been about a building. Where it meets is the executive's call each year, and for 2027 that call is still to be made.
What stays put is the night: usually the first Thursday of the month, five to eight whiskies, with a heavy lean to Scotch.
Most nights have a theme. A distillery rep, an independent bottler, or a region to taste through.
Run by its members, for its members
The Red Deer Whisky Club is a members' club in the plain sense: an informal non-profit, run by a volunteer executive and paid for by its members' dues.
Whatever is left over at the end of the year goes on rare and exciting whiskies at the Year End Party.
Full, or a waiting list.
Every tasting seats 50, and 45 of those seats are held for Charter members. When the club is full, the waiting list is the way in.
