Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Spirit(s) of the Season

Spirit(s) of the Season 

With Hanukkah and Christmas, not to mention Kwanza and New Year’s Eve upon us before we know it, I thought this column should bring some holiday cheer. Two recent events provided grist for the mill in the form of distilled products that would make any tippler happy.

In my last column I mentioned my serendipitous discovery of a new artisanal gin: Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers UNFILTERED GIN 22 was the base of the winning Apple Rosemary Collins cocktail mixed by the Earth to Table Bread Bar during Battledish on Locke St.

Very impressed, I visited the distillery in Beamsville to make a purchase, and subsequently had the pleasure of sitting down with the lanky, young distiller, Geoff Dillon, at the (wonderful) 2013 Ontario Culinary
Tourism (OCTA) Summit held recently in Toronto.

Dillon, who founded the Distillery, lives literally metres away from the building where – using a traditional copper pot still custom crafted in Germany – he produces batches of Gin, “Vodka” and 100% Ontario Rye Whiskey, not to mention an array of bitters one can use in both cocktails and cooking. You’ll see in the photos accompanying this piece that the packaging of the various products is attractive and would look great under a Christmas Tree. (Hint, hint)

The Gin’s name (and forward flavour) stems from the mixture of 22 botanicals whose flavours are extracted as the alcohol vapour passes through them. Dillon says it’s his favourite spirit to make (and to drink) as each batch is subtly different.

Opened just a year ago, Dillon’s is certainly getting people’s attention. I ate (very well) this week at hot Toronto Eatery Richmond Station and they’ve been serving Dillon’s products for a while now. As of early November, the Gin and Un-oaked White Rye are available at select LCBO locations, while the “vodka” is available only from the distillery. Perhaps the best barometer of the appeal of such craft products is that the bitters have been picked up by gourmet giant Williams-Sonoma: A three pack would make a lovely hostess gift over the holidays…

There is a reason the “Vodka” is not at the LCBO, as well as for the quotation marks around the word itself. Dillon’s is making theirs from Niagara grapes, sourcing them from contacts Geoff made while working at local wineries when he was younger. It tastes lovely, reminding me of Polish Bison Grass vodka (Zubrowka), with its hint of herbaceous vanilla. The first batch was from Pinot and Gamay Noir, Cabernet and Merlot grapes that were fermented first, then distilled.

And therein lies the issue. In Canada, vodka is still defined as coming only from grain or potatoes. Dillon told me other jurisdictions, including the US, have changed the definition to be a spirit distilled to 95% concentration ethanol. He said he knew from the outset he could not get onto LCBO shelves as a vodka, so for now there’s a good reason to drive to Beamsville.

Dillon has plenty of ideas for new products. Within the next five years he hopes to be selling a single barrel cask Canadian Rye Whisky, and also perhaps Canadian vermouths. An absinthe is coming soon, and the Distillery has planted wormwood trees to ensure a supply of raw materials. Also in the works are different kinds of gin, a pear eau de vie, and other spirits. He’s going to need more barrel storage.

At the OCTA event Dillon announced the formation of an Ontario Craft Distillers Alliance, initially uniting four of the handful of craft distillers in Ontario (there are ~ 450 in the US to give you a sense of the scale). He hopes a united front will enable this young industry to consolidate and eventually obtain some of the advantages and incentives currently available only to wine and beer makers.

Trafalgar Distillery is in Oakville, and is still in the permitting stages, though their principal, Mike Arnold has a 20-year history running Trafalgar Ales and Meads. Their still is actually being installed now, and I learned they too have big plans when I spoke this week with their representative, Paul Singer.

The jovial Singer (who also has his own long-standing wine and leisure blog), arrived for our interview cradling a small oak cask. I’d met him briefly at a recent tasting event in London. He stood out among the various wine distributors as he was hovering over that same cask and seemed to be attracting a great deal of attention. Generally I am not a rye drinker but the sample he was distributing was really quite nice.

The surprise was not just that the liquid in the glass was white Rye whiskey, whose smoothness belied the fact that it had only been aged 90 days in American Oak, but that he was selling the barrel as well! It seemed clear to me Trafalgar’s “My Own Barrel” kit would make for a great present for someone who loved spirits. Singer agrees (obviously) and stresses “the craft, the romance and the Canadian ownership” you’ll experience as your own liquor develops in your own barrel, stamped with your name, sitting on your counter.

They come in two sizes, 5 litre American oak, and for the soon-to-be very popular, a 38 litre Ontario-grown Oak barrel. Each will be shipped in February (you get a certificate and a couple of glasses to go under the tree until they are officially up and running) with an appropriate amount of white spirit.

Singer estimates the barrels could be re-filled several times, with the resulting tipple becoming mellower with time. The ability to flavour/age the whisky so quickly is because of the relatively large surface to volume ratio of such small casks. Since too long in the barrel could make the whisky take on some undesired flavours, purchasers will need to monitor the ageing process by regularly tasting the whisky. Shucks.

“(Public) Interest is big” Singer told me, and with time Trafalgar will also be offering barley spirit (to make Scotch) and rum to age in your own barrel. “We have another product in the works that I can’t tell you about. People are going to wonder why they didn’t think of it,” he teases. He concurs the timing is right for a Craft Distillers Alliance and says Trafalgar Distillers looks forward to formally joining.

Of course the LCBO is gearing up its holiday offerings if the above options are not your cup of “tea”. Check out their gift selector for a wide array ranging from prosaic to way out there. (Canadian Whiskey in a skate-shaped bottle, anyone?)

Bottoms up!

For more pictures, click here. 

Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info ) or on twitter @AlexBielak

Food for Thought logo, designed and kindly donated by Ninka Bielak. Ninka can be reached at ninka.bielak@gmail.com.