Teaching distillery earns gold medals
Niagara College’s teaching distillery recently had its spirits lifted.
Two of its products were awarded a gold medal in the 2022 U.S. Open Whiskey and Spirits Championship, a contest that ranks the best distilleries, whiskys and spirits among entries it receives from across the United States and Canada. Winners were announced in mid-April.
A Twisted Berry Gin crafted by artisan distilling program students earned top prize in the gin flavoured/infused category, while the college’s Chocolate Porter Liqueur won gold in the flavoured whisky category.
The teaching distillery also took home a bronze in the dark rum/gold/barrel-aged rum category for its dark rum.
Student Emma Cuthbert, who worked on the Twisted Berry Gin, said she and the others in her group wanted to make a gin for their capstone project so they could experiment with different applications of botanicals.
One of their first thoughts was to include berries.
“When it came to the recipe development of the gin itself, we wanted it to be good on its own, but also have characteristics that would highlight the different flavours of the berries,” said Cuthbert, who graduated from the artisan distilling program last year and is now finishing up the beverage business management program.
“It was really cool to see how little tweaks in just the amount of botanicals made a difference in the final product,” she said in a news release.
Twisted Berry Gin is an unsweetened gin infused with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, giving it a natural sweetness that can be used in different cocktails.
Chocolate Porter Liqueur is inspired by the teaching distillery’s Southern Hospitality bourbon-style spirit.
The recipe was modified to include specialty grains, such as pale chocolate malt and cocoa nibs.
“It’s short-aged in a barrel, and it’s probably been our most successful or our most sought-after product so far,” said the college’s head distiller, David Dickson, in the release.
Canadian entries are judged by distillers and industry professionals in Niagara, and then shipped off to Oxford, Ohio, where they go through a second round of judging — along with the American entries.