Lights, camera, whisky: Kiefer Sutherland on his career, his new spirit and his love of Montreal

Actor and musician Kiefer Sutherland, who has deep ties to Montreal through his family, is back in the city to promote his Canadian-made whisky.

From the silver screen to the TV screen and the stage, Kiefer Sutherland is back in Montreal.

“I love being here. You know, so when I was about four or five years old, my father and his wife, Francine, summered up around Magog and they ended up buying a place there and it became, you know, for 40 years, where where I would see my dad and my brothers,” he told CTV News.

While he grew up in Toronto, Sutherland has a deep connection to Montreal. His father, Donald, was an avid Expos fan and it was said he’d rearrange his schedule to make it to games.

“I remember two specific things: One was how fast he drove from the [Eastern] Townships to Montreal to watch a game. And I, even as a boy, knew this was highly illegal because there’s no way we should be driving this fast,” he recalled.

“He was such a fixture in the Olympic Stadium that his seats were on the third baseline, a few rows back. But when other teams would come to play, they would always, you know, third baseman specifically, would always walk up and shake his hand and say hello.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Sutherland followed in his fathers footsteps, breaking into Hollywood in the 1980s in films like Stand By Me, opposite Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, and in Tinseltown — a holiday comedy that will be released in November.

But he says there’s been a drive to push his horizons.

“I think inherently every time you try something new, you realize how much you don’t know, right? And I think when you are confronted with the limitations of what you know, are secure with what you have learned, but you realize there’s so much farther to go and that’s going to inherently make you nervous,” Sutherland said.

His newest endeavour is Red Bank Whisky, a company he co-founded. Red Bank is made in Nova Scotia and uses Canadian wheat, rye and water — made to stand out from American products.

“I thought, well, wouldn’t it be cool to have a product that we could kind of take around the world and kind of brag about Canada,” he said.

“Canadian whiskies, for me, have always had a flavour profile that kind of slanted down to American bourbons and Kentucky bourbons.”

“As someone who really enjoys whisky, in a sense, sometimes too much, I thought it was just really really special,” he added.

And while he’s in the booze business now, he’s had a rocky past with alcohol, including arrests for driving under the influence.

When asked about his relationship with alcohol, he said “It’s tempered, compared to, you know, when I was younger.”

“I was trying to live as much as I could and I made some mistakes. And then I let some things get away from me and, you know, and over time, you learn from those lessons,” he said.

And through that growth, Sutherland’s career has persevered.

“I’m certainly well into my middle age, if not older, and so, yeah, there are moments where I certainly feel less relevant today than I did yesterday,” he said.

“Things that have been successful for me, have really mattered to me because that’s what I’m trying to accomplish.”