Niagara College distillery in good spirits
Artisan distilling program has state-of-the-art facility at Niagara-on-the-Lake campus
When Kirin Tsang left the Canadian military he knew he wanted to do something different.
After landing on “civi street” harder than he intended, Tsang found himself mixing cocktails for himself and some friends.
“I realized, ‘You know a man could make a lot of money doing this sort of thing or at least learn a lot of things figuring out how it all goes down,’” the Niagara College student said to a crowd of fellow students, college faculty and guests Thursday morning.
He and the others were at the Niagara-on-the-Lake campus to open the unique, state-of-the-art teaching distillery as part of the college’s artisan distilling program.
Tsang applied just in time for the program and knew he had to be a part of it. That was solidified when he paid a visit to the campus in June.
The choice of faculty to run the program and fellow students with diverse backgrounds will take the teaching distillery and program places, he said.
Tara Stanclik is among the first batch of students going through the program.
“I came about this in a roundabout way. I was working in the wine industry and I really enjoyed it but was looking for something new to challenge me,” the Niagara-on-the-Lake resident said.
The Brock University graduate — she took social work and music — taught for a while before entering the wine industry.
Stanclik heard about the distilling program from a friend and after its launch was delayed a year she applied. Within a month she learned she was part of the first group of students. She looks forward to working with her hands and creating things.
“Fruit- and grape-based spirits interest me a lot.”
She said she might like to work with gin as she’s interested in plant sources and things that make spirits a bit more interesting.
Craig Youdale, dean of the Niagara College Canadian Food and Wine Institute, said students will work with gin, vodka, whisky, rum, brandy and more during the yearlong program.
Youdale said the artisan distilling program seemed like the next logical step for the college, which already has wine and beer teaching programs.
“We do know there is a burgeoning artisan sort of feel in distilling in cider and beer in Ontario and we wanted to be ahead of the curve and do the training.”
Using knowledge gained from the wine and beer programs, the college was able to design its building with a focus on students.
“It’s not really about production, it’s about training them about the science and engineering around distilling,” said Youdale, adding industry partners from across the world, the U.S., Canada and locally helped get the program off the ground.
One of those partners is Windsor-based Hiram Walker, one of the largest distillers in North
‘‘ “I think this is a great day for Canadian whisky. I look forward to working with the professors and students.”
DON LIVERMORE Hiram Walker master blender
America.
Don Livermore, the company’s master blender, was at the opening and said it was well time for a program that will continue to be creative and innovative like Canadian whisky makers have been.
“I think this is a great day for Canadian whisky. I look forward to working with the professors and students,” he said.
He believes Niagara’s program will give students the skills they need to keep Canadian whisky moving forward.
And after seeing what the teaching distillery had inside — five stills, four mash tuns and 10 fermenters — Livermore wished he had the same in his laboratory.
“They have some nice fermentation, distillation and cooking vessels here that they are set up to play with. I think that’s what this should be all about, experimenting and trying new things. It helps us as an industry.”