New Brunswick Spirits Festival: How Canada’s Oldest Whisky Event was Built

Frank Scott is one of Canada’s most respected Scotch whisky connoisseurs and a celebrated figure in Fredericton’s hospitality community.

He is the co-founder and former owner and manager of Fredericton’s Lunar Rogue Pub, an award-winning establishment that became a cornerstone of the city’s hospitality culture. A lifelong New Brunswicker and a pillar of the city’s pub and spirits scene, Scott has built a remarkable career as a publican, beginning in 1976 when he launched his first pub.

“I opened the pub with a group of school friends and we ran that for two years,” says Scott. “It was a folk club, we had live music. We brought in bands from all over Canada, and CBC said we were arguably one of the best folk clubs in the country in from 1977 to 1979.”

Yet, among his many accomplishments, being a founder of the NB Spirits Festival is his greatest achievement. Through the festival, he has helped establish New Brunswick as a destination for whisky enthusiasts while sharing his passion and expertise with generations of spirits lovers.

A major whisky and spirits event held annually in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the NB Spirits Festival was launched in 1995. Since then the festival has grown to become Canada’s oldest whisky and spirits festival. A five-day celebration for people who enjoy whisky, bourbon, rum, gin and other spirits, the NB Spirits Festival includes The Festival Showcase, a huge tasting event with hundreds of spirits, often presented by distillery representatives and brand ambassadors. The event also includes master classes, whisky and spirits dinners, as well as special tastings.

Since 1992, Scott has hosted countless whisky seminars, tastings and educational events for corporate groups, charitable organizations and whisky enthusiasts. His deep knowledge, generosity as a host and genuine passion for Scotch have earned him a legendary reputation among both industry professionals and aficionados.

We were able to catch up with Scott, who sat down with Vacay.ca to talk about the festival, Fredericton’s famous beer scene, and what comes next in his career.

Vacay.ca: Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. It was so good to meet you in New Brunswick at the NB Spirits Festival, and it was good to sit down and see what you’ve done. It takes a lot to pull off a complex event like that and I know it’s not an easy thing to do.

Frank Scott: Great to meet you too, and thanks! Yes, it takes a lot of work and effort by many great people but it’s worth it.

Vacay.ca: I want to get right into it and discuss the NB Spirits Festival, an event that you helped create. Vacay.ca was able to take part in the event last year and it was outstanding. We were blown away by the size of the event and the number of experts in attendance. Congrats on your success!

Scott: Thank you!

Vacay.ca: You have said that Fredericton’s more of a rum and whiskey town, which is fitting because you have helped found one of the most successful spirits festivals in the world.

Scott: Rum was the drink of my father and my grandfather. Trinidad Light, you know, Palm Breeze, the Captain … those were all the major spirits drinkers in New Brunswick. Nova Scotia still has a massive rum following, so does Newfoundland with Lamb’s. But, rum was not the drink of the younger generation, and it slowly changed away from rum. It’s still, I think 23% of the liquor corporation sales are still rum. But at one point, it was around 38% or 40%. It’s not caught on to the younger drinker as much as, maybe whiskeys have and other, liqueurs and things like that. So it’s rewarding that we are helping to put spirits back on the radar.

Vacay.ca: Well, you are certainly putting whiskey, rum, gin on the map in the prairie provinces with the festival. One of my favourite moments during NB Spirits Festival was visiting the store. I don’t think I’ve seen more brands of spirits from all over the world in one place in my life. And it was a well-attended festival. During the duration of the festival I imagine roughly 45 per cent of attendees were from out of town.

Scott: That’s true.

Vacay.ca: And going back to the store, I think I saw a bottle in there that was over $10,000. You will have to forgive me, I’m sure to you and people in the industry a bottle costing ten grand is common but my jaw dropped.

Scott: We have a fairly good selection of products, including several unique and expensive items. There were at least ten that were over $8,000 in the store. Because of our festival, we’ve attracted major players from around the world to come to our city to purchase rare bottles that simply can’t be acquired in other provinces or regions. We have had people fly to our province from California just to pick up whiskeys in New Brunswick because they save a lot of money against the American dollar. So, if you’re buying a bottle for $20,000 and it’s in US dollars, it’s only about, $11,000 here. Yet another great reason to fly over to Fredericton, right?

Vacay.ca: Right! Yes, that makes sense. With math like that the flight pays for itself. Another interesting thing was the variety of products. There were brands from all over the world. Can you name where some of the brands came from?

Scott: We had 30 company suppliers. We had four companies from London, at least eight or ten that came over this year or last year from The United Kingdom. We had 27 brand ambassadors come from all over The United Kingdom and Canada, and they represent over 440 products at the show. So, you have to have representation at the show to get the product on the shelf. So most of the companies see the opportunity to get what I call lips to liquid.

Vacay.ca: Lips to liquid, I like that.

Scott: People get to try before they buy, and that’s a big thing. What’s really cool about that is if you try it and it’s expensive and you don’t think you can afford it right away, you might pick keep it in mind and pick it up for Christmas. The festival is an excellent way to get people thinking about the holidays.

Vacay.ca: That is true. It would be nice to get a gift like that but alas, I’ll have to settle for another tie!

I also want to talk about the food at the festival. One of the things I loved was the gin lunch and the rum breakfast that I attended. Rum and Breakfast are two words I never saw working together, but it worked! I loved how the cooks were able to be creative while sharing their knowledge about cooking food and using beer, spirits and wine. I know people have different reasons for attending the festival but the food has to be a huge draw for many.

Scott: Absolutely. We started 14 years ago introducing dinners and lunches with whiskey. In Scotland, and I would travel over, I went to the Speyside Whisky Festival and my wife and I attended every year but two. We met this lady named Martine Nouet from Barfleur, France who is probably the world’s leading expert in pairing food with whiskeys. She grew up on a farm in Normandy with her father who made apple cider. Martine was the editor of the Whiskey Magazine in France and has written many books on how to pair food and whiskey. I met her there and I asked her if she would come to New Brunswick. She agreed, and has been coming back for years.

Vacay.ca: It was wonderful to meet her. And yes, she knows her whisky. And it isn’t just the food, it is also the festivals connection to art. Another event I loved at the festival was the presentation at Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Vacay.ca: It was a really good time. I mean, Fredericton’s food scene already is pretty good. I think it’s underestimated, how good it is, and then your festival really does enhance things. But would you agree with that?

Scott: I do. I think the food that we offer at the festival is of the highest standards, and we really don’t have a problem selling all of our tickets to our food events. They’re all pretty much sold out within a few weeks of the tickets going on sale.

Scott: Think that’s one of the most interesting things about our festival. You can attract people through your senses to art with your eyes, your nose, your taste, your flavors profile, and you’re being drawn into the painting. And we’re the only festival in the world that does this. I mean, it’s just so cool, and it sells out in minutes because everybody wants to go to that class and try these six whiskeys. And she picks the paintings out of their vast thousands of catalogs of paintings. And the curator and Martine work together, and they get the art to work together. And we’ve done so many amazing things at this festival that you just don’t do anywhere else.

Vacay.ca: I can’t end this interview without speaking about the beautiful city of Fredericton itself. I know Canadians are diverse in their tastes and interests, but when I think of Canada I admit I often think beer, beer, beer, beer. Fredericton is no different. The city is known for their famous Taproom Trail, a passport-style map allowing craft beer and craft cider fans to choose their taproom adventure. In fact the province also has the Northern New Brunswick Beer Trail, which covers over 750 kilometres and features 17 craft breweries across six tourism regions. But lately, I feel like spirits have overshadowed Fredericton’s appreciation for beer.

Scott: You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that with all of the craft breweries that have been opened up across the country. New Brunswick has a wealth of breweries, I think there’s around 56 craft breweries in the province, which, you know, per capita, is the largest number of craft breweries in Canada per population. I think Fredericton itself has seven craft breweries, and they’re all really good. They all make excellent beer. So, yeah, they all seem to do very well. They’ve been all established for quite a long time, and they have a diehard following for each of them. In fact they have a wonderful beer festival here in the spring in March (Fredericton Craft Beer Festival) and they attract the craft brewers from all over Atlantic Canada, but New Brunswick is well situated with the craft breweries.

Vacay.ca: What are some of your favorite things to do in Fredericton?

Scott: Oh, well, you can’t come to Fredericton and not go to Boyce Farmers Market on Saturdays. I think, it’s where every Frederictonian meets in the morning for coffee, espressos, and fresh vegetables, fresh baking, fresh foods, just about fresh everything. It’s just one of Canada’s amazing city markets. It’s been going on for decades, probably hundreds of years.

As discussed before, I love the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Killarney Lake Park is a great place for going for a swim. I also love the Saint John River Valley, just to sit on the benches along the river and watch the water go by and just de-stress. It’s relaxing place, it really is. And there’s just tons of restaurants and pubs and takeouts and food trucks. There’s always something on the go and lots of different foods and different ethnic foods. It’s great.

Vacay.ca: Wonderful, not a bad list! What’s next for the New Brunswick Spirits Festival?

Scott: This year, we’re looking at adding an event called the UMC – the Ultimate Master Class, where we take 13 of the most expensive whiskeys at the show, so you’re guaranteed to taste them. We’re going to be doing some unique master classes that we’re working on with suppliers, and we’re trying to get ourselves.

We look forward to the day when American whiskeys come back because they’ve been very popular here, and the American ambassadors have been great to deal with. So we hope the political situation between our countries can get resolved soon because there are a lot of people who would love to have American products back on the shelves.

Vacay.ca: Last question. What’s next for Mr. Frank Scott?

Scott: Well, I’m not getting younger, but last year was my 29th festival and I would really love to make it to 30. That would be an awesome goal. But as long as my wife can put up with me I’ll try to continue on and promote the festival and share my passion for whiskey and for spirits.

And to those who haven’t come, I just want you to come and meet your friends you haven’t met before because we are friendly here, and we want to meet you and to show you what a great festival is all about.

More About the 29th NB Spirits Festival

Website: www.whiskynb.ca/Festival
Dates: November 17-21, 2026