Bottling Toronto’s spirit in the Distillery
Two upstart craft distilleries look to beat the odds by tapping into city’s diversity
Toronto’s urban distillery trail recently doubled in size. There are now two. One more and we’ll have a bona fide trend.
This growth spurt took place this week, when Spirit of York Distillery Co. opened its doors to the public in the Distillery District in the building that once housed the legendary Gooderham & Worts whisky distillery. The west-end’s Yongehurst Distillery’s status as the city’s only craft spirits hub was no more.
Yongehurst would only be too happy to lose that distinction, since its once-lonely owners hope that Toronto can build a thriving craft-spirits scene, given they need a critical mass to generate enthusiasm. That’s the way it’s worked in cities such as Philadelphia, Nashville and Paris, where, along with great food and microbreweries, urban spirits trails help to drive tourism. In Canada, Vancouver is, far and away, the leader for this, with nine craft distilleries up and running.
There’s a craft-booze boom happening — just not here. That’s likely due to our perfect storm of high provincial taxes, tough zoning laws and high Toronto rents, all of which make it a challenge to thrive. But both of our city’s upstart enterprises are hopeful they can beat the odds by tapping into Toronto’s greatest asset — its diversity.
“When we called it the Spirit of York, one thing we were trying to communicate is how we want to work with all the Toronto communities,” says Gerry Guitor, one of several founders who have been working for two years to get the distillery off the ground. “We believe that the sum of all the different social, cultural and ethnic groups is greater than its parts, so we’re going to try to develop products for Little Italy and Greektown (likely grappa and ouzo, but they’re playing their cards close to their chest) and all the other communities. Ideally, we want this to be their distillery.”
To that end, Guitor and shareholders have committed to contribute 10 per cent of profits to support different socio-cultural communities in the Golden Horseshoe, through sponsorships, collaborations and product donation to help various groups showcase and highlight their contributions to the city.
“A lot of people will kind of leverage fear and ignorance and sow the seeds of division for their own personal gain,” he says, “We want to be the counterforce to that.”
On top of this, it means Spirit of York will slowly roll out products that reflect the diverse character of the city, adding to the gin and vodka that represent their opening gambit, meaning we can expect to see more locally made products along the lines of grappa, ouzo or aquavit. That’s not totally new, since Yongehurst has been working on a diverse portfolio of niche products, too — and already has an impressive roster of interesting little products under its belt, including triple sec, limoncello, elderflower gin and a shochu (distilled sake).
“We’re taking a less traditional path, since most distilleries will create two or three products and focus on those types of things, like the way breweries did five or 10 years ago,” says Rocco Panacci, co-owner at Yongehurst. “But we were inspired more by the modern brewery in the way that it’s able to be really agile and create one-offs in small batches. We’re just constantly challenging ourselves to try new things.”
Since urban millennials are increasingly seeking out novelty more than consistency, that might also be a key to thriving in this tough market. In addition, though, both distilleries intend to engage the consumer through interactive visitor experiences, education and giving the city (along with the larger Golden Horseshoe region) a voice through spirits.
“We tried to make sure this was an Ontario story,” says Guitor. “So, our grain comes from Southwestern Ontario, from Norfolk and Brant, we get our water from an aquifer near Springwater (formerly Elmvale), which is the purest in the world and the decor was all sourced locally.”
Also in the mix is the sense of responsibility Guitor and company feel when it comes to representing the area’s heritage, since the Spirit of York is housed in the malting room of the old Gooderham & Worts facility, which was, at one point, the largest distillery in the world. Like the best post-industrial renovations, the Spirit has taken inspiration from that bygone era but haven’t tried to create a historical re-enactment. The values, philosophy and, of course, state-of-the-art, jaw-droppingly gorgeous stills (two 40-foot columns at the rear are the showstoppers of the tour), reflect a modern sensibility, banking on its promising future more than the past.
“It’s a world-class city,” says Guitor. “It should be the model for every city to match, with everybody working in harmony to build something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”
With Spirit of York and Yongehurst working to become an important part of vision for a model city that stresses diversity. Which, of course, is better than any old trend. Spirit of York’s tasting room and bottle shop opens to the public May 11 at 12 Trinity St. Yongehurst Distillery can be found at its relatively new location, 346 Westmoreland Ave. N.