Cider makers, distilleries to receive provincial aid

Small cider producers and distilleries in Ontario will share $4.9 million in aid over the next three years to help purchase new equipment, hire more staff and expand their production.

The support program will provide up to $220,000 a year to eligible producers, helping them to make cider and spirits such as vodka and gin on a larger scale, Finance Minister Charles Sousa announced Tuesday.

“Ontario’s cider and spirits industry is growing at an exciting pace,” he said at the Summerhill LCBO store with Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal.

The money will provide “additional tools to help them succeed,” Sousa added.

Cider sales at the LCBO grew 54 per cent last year to $5.1 million, with the industry in total selling $12.3 million, including sales at cider producers. Sales by craft distilleries at their own stores, as well as in the LCBO, totalled $5.5 million, a 62per-cent increase over 2015.

In another change, smaller spirits producers will soon be allowed to deliver their products directly to bars and restaurants.

The subsidies will be up to 74 cents per litre of cider and up to $4.42 per litre of spirits on eligible sales.

“This is tremendous news,” said Thomas Wilson, chair of the Ontario Craft Cider Association, which represents 27 of the 43 cider producers in Ontario.

“The program will ultimately result in more apple trees in the ground and increased rural economic activity from farm to glass, . . . This is a great step to growing our world-class cider industry,” added Wilson, owner of Spirit Tree Estate Cidery in Caledon.

Ontario has roughly a dozen small distillers in Toronto, Guelph, Barrie, Picton and Niagara.