While Albertans are still reeling over not being able to buy vodka in four-litre milk jugs, a distillery in Saskatoon has them beat.That’s because a mere $499 buys an 18.9-litre ‘Saskatchewan Mickey’ of distilled spirits in a branded plastic water cooler jug.And Radouga Distilleries in Blain Lake has been selling 200 of them a year without incident since they were first introduced in 2016..“It was basically used for well (house) vodka in bars, restaurants and lounges,” Radouga operations manager Lawrence Eberle told The National Post. But eventually retail liquor stores “had customers asking for them.”That’s more than six times the size of a stand Texas mickey and almost five times the size of the Alberta 'milk' jugs that found so much disfavour with Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally, who threatened to bring all the powers of the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis commission to bear to stop it.“I don’t think a four-litre plastic jug of vodka adds to the quality of the distillery industry we have in this province,” Nally told reporters at a press conference about the $49.95 jug."I don’t think that it is responsible pricing to price it like that.”The CEO of St. Albert-based T-Rex Distillery, Yvonne Irnich has since demanded an apology from the minister. “We got a lot of publicity, but it wasn’t all good publicity,” Irnich told the Canadian Press.After pulling the offending jugs off its website, it has since began selling them again.Back in the Land of Living Skies, Radouga’s Eberle admitted the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming authority hasn’t exactly been enamoured with the 19-litre version and the distillery has made some accommodations — such as changing the cap so it doesn’t too closely resemble an actual water jug..And, no. He doesn’t recommend installing one in the office water cooler. Apparently alcohol wreaks havoc with the rubber seals.But he does admit to having a good chuckle at Alberta’s ‘tempest’ in a milk jug.“It’s the moral uproar over four litres versus the three litres of a Texas mickey, which are readily available at the majority of liquor stores across the country.”
