(FORTUNE Magazine) – CANADA'S three reclusive Reichmann brothers have built a reputation as contrarians who deftly cull profits from ventures others scorn. Their entry into the New York City real estate market in 1977 was characteristic. They plunged in as the city reeled from fiscal crisis, building a majestic fortune when the market turned around. Their closely held Olympia & York Developments now has assets of some $12 billion and controls more than 50 million square feet of real estate in the U.S. and Canada. With their enormous World Financial Center project in Lower Manhattan nearing completion, the Reichmanns have edged past the Rockefellers as New York City's largest commercial landlord. A move into the oil industry so far looks more contrarian than astute. The Reichmanns bought control of Gulf Canada last year for nearly $2 billion. But Gulf Canada had suffered along with the rest of the oil industry as depressed prices severely crimped earnings. To help with Gulf's problems, the Reichmanns threw contrarianism to the winds and bought the sort of robust, cash-producing business that appeals to most investors. They sent Gulf after Hiram Walker Resources, especially the profitable liquor subsidiary that includes Courvoisier cognac, Ballantine's Scotch, and Canadian Club whiskey. Hiram Walker produced pretax earnings of $486 million last year, $206 million of it from liquor. The cash Hiram Walker generates should soothe some of Gulf Canada's financial pain. The Hiram Walker board resisted the Reichmanns and began looking for a white knight. Allied-Lyons, a British conglomerate, stepped in with a $1.8-billion offer for the liquor part of the business. That deal seemed to have been consummated when the Hiram Walker board suddenly accepted a $2.1-billion offer from the Reichmanns for the 69% of the company that they didn't own. Allied- Lyons claimed it already had a deal for the Walker liquor business. The Reichmanns, who replaced much of the board with their own associates, said the unit was no longer for sale. Allied countered with a $6.4-billion suit for breach of contract. After months of negotiations, an out-of-court agreement was reached in early September. Allied-Lyons will pay $600 million for 51% of the liquor business; Gulf Canada will retain only 49%. So Gulf Canada won't get as large a stream of cash from Hiram Walker as it had hoped. The company certainly could have used it. Gulf Canada has a positive cash flow, but if it turns a profit this year it will be meager. A recent find in the Beaufort Sea that many geologists believe could be Canada's largest oil field would produce hefty dividends if the price of oil rebounds. But plans for production from that field -- called Amauligak -- have been suspended because of low prices. A Toronto security analyst says Gulf Canada's balance sheet ''is pretty stretched.'' Adds Robert Robinson, an oil consultant with Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon, a Toronto brokerage firm: ''The Reichmanns have some fancy footwork to do, mainly because they have long-term assets that need big injections of cash. In order to handle that, they needed to grab some cash-producing assets. I think they have pushed the panic button.'' Oil and gas earnings from Gulf Canada's continuing operations during the first six months of this year dropped to $45 million, about half what they were in the same period of 1985. Gulf Canada carries an estimated debt of $3.2 billion. Part of that load of debt comes from the heavy costs of developing oil and gas fields in forbidding offshore regions around Canada. Says Robinson: ''With oil at $15 a barrel, Gulf doesn't look like a very good acquisition. What happened is the same thing that happens to any company that diversifies into areas it knows nothing about.'' The Reichmanns' investment strategy is sometimes tough to puzzle out. But it seems to turn on one guiding principle. While the brothers still love to gamble, they want to protect the heart of their empire from risk. For example, they wanted to use Hiram Walker's cash rather than Olympia's to help out Gulf Canada. Meanwhile, they have been shuffling assets furiously to make their investment work. They sold Gulf Canada's marketing and refining assets for $l.l billion, while Gulf bought Olympia & York's Abitibi-Price subsidiary, the world's largest newsprint producer, for $870 million. Perhaps they have been wise to distance Olympia & York from Gulf Canada. By not throwing the real estate business into the pot, the Reichmanns have shielded it from creditors should their oil-patch gamble fail. But if they win on oil, they win big.