Last one tells the story

Trish and Cal Craik closing the doors after 13 years at the Thorp Rd location and setting their minds to the future.

A bit of history:

Back in 1996 Cal & Trish Craik were living and working in Vancouver; Cal as a Business Development Manager for a bonded warehousing operation and Trish as a full-time mother to their three young children. One thing led to another and Cal found himself seeking new gainful employment. Having looked at moving to the Okanagan Valley for some time, this intrepid pair packed up bag and baggage and moved to Oliver, the heart of the BC wine industry.

BOHICA BOXWORKS

Still having no job but needing to feed the kids and pay the mortgage, Cal began building and selling wooden gift boxes to the region’s wineries. A high volume, low margin, subsistence living at best. None the less, it was this connection to the wineries that would provide the platform on which to build the barrel business.

Over a wobbly pop with a neighbour one evening the conversation came around to the wine industry and how it was a shame that there was nobody in the Okanagan selling, repairing or refurbishing wine barrels. The light went on. A bit of research and a trip to Napa later, Cal was back in Oliver as the local representative for Demptos Napa Cooperage. At the same time, Cal picked up a few used barrels and set to work figuring out how to take them apart and, more importantly, put them back together again. This was followed by the design and construction of a purpose-built machine to shave out the inside of tired barrels to resurrect a bit more extractive life from them.

OKANAGAN BARREL WORKS LTD ( 1998 to 2014 )

Drew, Dalice and Carly – all grown up – time for Trish and Cal to start a new chapter of their adventure together.