Ontario craft distilleries ... where to spend your money.

Stealing shamelessly from the Ontario Craft Distilleries Association (hi, Charles!), here's what is allegedly a current list of actual craft distilleries where you should be spending your money. So put down the Bombay Sapphire and that overpriced Hendricks, and try something new.

• 66 Gilead Distillery
• Dillon's Small Batch Distillers
• Dixon's Distilled Spirits
• Junction 56 Distillery
• King's Lock Craft Distillery
• Last Straw Distillery
• Murphy's Law Distillery
• North of 7 Distillery
• Polonee Distillery
• Rheault Distillery
• Seventh Concession Distillers
• Still Waters Distillery
• Top Shelf Distillers
• Toronto Distillery Co.
• Wolfhead Distillery
• Yongehurst Distillery

Have I missed any? Lines are open ...

Who is "Spirits Canada"? Let's find out.

In the first of an inevitably snotty series of posts discussing how the Ontario government of Kathleen Wynne and Finance Minister Charles Sousa is totally rogering Ontario's craft distillery community, we're going to first check out the laughably-misnamed advocacy group "Spirits Canada." And what an amusing group it is:

Man, that group just reeks of Canadiana, doesn't it? Um ... hang on ... what's this?

Ruh roh ...

Well played, Spirits Canada. Well played.

The Wandering Bitters: It's cocktail time.

As 66 Gilead's Wandering Bitters make their way around Ottawa, we're going to post recipes for any interesting drinks that take advantage of any of them, and this one is courtesy of Stephen at The Black Tomato:

 The magic ingredients:

• Seed To Sausage double-smoked bacon-infused Wild Turkey bourbon
• Coffee and cardamom simple syrup
• 66 Gilead Black walnut bitters
• Cedar and star anise wood smoke

 You want one now, don't you?

Dear Ottawa: Say hello to 66 Gilead's "Wandering Bitters."

It was just a few weeks ago that I was thinking of showing off some of the nifty bitters from my buds at 66 Gilead Distillery in Prince Edward County to some of my barkeep acquaintances in the Market, but also appreciating the inconvenience that that sort of sampling involves -- the synchronizing with folks when they're not busy, the rushing them through the tasting when they'd like to sit and ponder and experiment, possibly for a day or two or three, and so on.

And then it hit me.

Crowdsampling.

That's the word I'm using here -- "crowdsampling" -- and here's how it works.

We're loading up a small bag with a delightful collection of 66 Gilead bitters, at which point I'm simply going to hand it off to my favourite local Market barkeep, cocktail wizard Stephen at The Black Tomato. Inside the bag will be a short set of rules for how this will work, and I paraphrase and condense thusly:

• When you receive the bag, you drop me an e-mail telling me you have it.
• You can experiment to your heart's content for, say, 4 or 5 days.
• You pass on the bag to someone else, and e-mail me telling me where it's gone.
• Repeat.

Crowdsampling: letting the crowd decide where the bag goes next without any assistance from me. Brilliant, n'est-ce pas?

And let me introduce you to the boys, all 12 of them:

They would be:

• Black Walnut
• Cherry
• Orange
• Lavender
• Violet
• Silk Road
• Snake Root
• La Fee Verte (Absinthe)
• Smoke
• Hops
• Ambrosia
• Rose

You can find brief tasting notes on all of these at 66 Gilead's online store, the bitters page. And if you're interested, you can follow along on social media, tracking one or all of:

• Twitter handle "canadiancynic"
• Twitter handle "66gilead"
• Twitter hashtag "#WanderingBitters"

Heck, we might even set up a Facebook page, because we're high-tech like that.

In any event, the Wandering Bitters have officially started wandering, and we will be tracking their migration pattern as they make their way around town. This should be interesting.

The Canadian Ginic spherical ice ball maker -- because you need one.

Once upon a time, I blogged about spherical ice ball makers here, and now it's time to give you lucky Ottawa folks the chance to get your very own ice ball maker. From the creative designer-type minds of the gin-sipping intellectuals here at CC HQ, we have solid aluminum ice ball makers that, through the modern miracle of basic thermodynamics, churn out 50mm ice balls for your favourite cocktails.

Behold:

The process is not hard -- if you can make ice and lift stuff, it works like this. In the pic above, you're looking at the two available finishes -- anodized aluminum and a wicked cool matte black. (There was a copper finish but ... yuck, no, that didn't work out, sadly.)

If you're not quite sure what the fuss is about, there's something magically sciency about spherical ice in a cocktail, as explained here. At the moment, making 50mm spheres is fairly easy since you can easily buy silicone ice cube trays that make 2-inch cubes, which is just the size you want for these makers. But we're about to get more ambitious. A couple bartenders have already said they want larger spheres -- 60mm, or possibly 65mm -- which means we'll have to figure out how to conveniently produce chunks of ice that are appropriate. Even more of a challenge is how to produce perfectly clear ice and, trust me, that's not as easy as it sounds, but we'll figure something out. Eventually.

Questions?

"Barrel-aged" gins -- what exactly is that barrel, anyway?

Being a huge fan of barrel-aged gin, I was amused by the idea of documenting exactly what kind of barrels distillers were using to age their spirits. So, without further ado, a list of general articles on barrel-aged gins, followed by links to a number of such products and snippets (as long or short as necessary) to document the barrel types in question.

First, the articles:

• The Entirely Defensible Fad for Limited-Edition, Barrel-Aged Gin
• Is Barrel Aged Gin a Good Idea?
• The Gin Goes Back Into the Barrel
• Trendwatch: Barrel-Aged Gin
• Barrel-Aged Gin Cocktails
• Gin Meets Whisky (in a barrel)
• Top 10 barrel-aged gins

And now, pay attention -- what follows is most emphatically not a review. It has nothing to do with quality -- it is simply snippets from linked articles explaining how different distillers barrel age their gins, for how long, in what types of barrels, and so on. It's not a review, it's just a reference list, and I'll add to it as I research more aged gins.

And now, the gins, in moderately alphabetical order with more to come as I run across them:

Caledonia Spirits' "Tom Cat" Barr Hill Reserve:

Caledonia Spirits "Tom Cat" Barr Hill Reserve Barrel Aged Gin is crafted by aging their Barr Hill Gin for 3-4 months in new charred American oak barrels, offering an invigorating nose of cola, lemon drops and sweet spice. While both the nose and palate retain the juniper and floral notes of the gin, they're accentuated by rich tones of caramel, banana, spice and oak. Though there are several barrel aged gin in the market, TTB did not approve Tom Cat to be classified as a gin and accordingly the label of Tom Cat does not say "gin".

Bombay Amber:

The 47% abv London dry gin is vapour-infused with nutmeg, black cardamom and orange zest, before being rested in French vermouth barrels.

Captive Spirits Bourbon Barreled Big Gin:

Bourbon Barreled Big Gin is a rare and rounded spirit. Aged 6 months in a once used Kentucky bourbon barrel, Bourbon Barreled Big Gin reveals rich and robust flavors perfect for mixing or sipping.

Citadelle Reserve:

In 2009, the goal was less wood flavor and more finesse. Citadelle Gin rested in oak casks that had a medium char for five months and produced a gin with subtle flavors of vanilla, flowers and cinnamon. Acclaimed spirits writer F. Paul Pacult named the 2009 Vintage one of the Top 50 Spirits of the Year.

In 2010, Gabriel wanted to engineer the perfect ‘aging’ gin with more flower and spices notes, so he produced a special batch of Citadelle with more violet, iris and grains of paradise. The gin was aged for six months in oak casks with a light char. This produced a gin with a perfect roundness, harmony and elegance.

In 2012, Gabriel added three new botanicals – yuzu, génépi and bleuet (cornflower) – to the 19 botanicals already used to make Citadelle Gin – and aged the spirit for six months in oak cases with a light char.

Copperworks Malt Barrel Gin:

Copperworks is excited to introduce Copperworks Malt Barrel Gin. This is a limited release of gin that’s been aged in an American Oak barrel that was previously used to age premium all-malt whiskey.

Our Malt Barrel Gin spent just over six months in a barrel rich with malt-whiskey essence — giving it soft vanilla and oak notes. But it definitely retained its juniper spiciness. There’s a hint of sweetness, with orange and cinnamon in the nose. It reminds us of a fine flan with a burnt sugar crust.

Like Copperworks award-winning flagship gin, our Malt Barrel Gin is distilled from a base of malted barley, primarily grown in Washington, with ten botanicals added in the final distillation.

Copperworks Malt Barrel Gin is the second in a series of limited-release aged gins we’re developing. We’re working with various barrel types to offer an assortment of aged gins with different flavor profiles. We started with gin aged in a new, charred American Oak barrel, straight from Kentucky. It was first because a new barrel releases its flavors more quickly than a used barrel. We’ll continually release different aged gins as they reach their peak flavor.

Corsair Experimental:

Rather unique among aged gins is the choice of barrel. Corsair Artisan Spirits makes a spiced rum, and for this batch they’ve used those barrels for aging their gin. I haven’t had their rum so its hard to say for certain I’m picking out notes that remind of spiced rum, but perhaps in the spices, perhaps in the aging, but there’s an interesting warmth in this gin.

Few Spirits Barrel Gin:

This is a stunning American gin, made by FEW Spirits in Illinois, USA. It was aged in oak barrels, and the result of this is an increased level of sweetness, complexity and spice.

Journeyman Distillery Bilberry Black Hearts Barrel Aged Gin:

Journeyman Bilberry Black Hearts gin is made from an organic wheat distillate and then aged in oak for 6 months prior to bottling, giving the normally clear gin a light cast and whiskey-character. They call it their "whiskey drinker's gin."

Rogue Spirits Pink Spruce Gin (select when you get there):

Pink Spruce Gin is Rogue’s Platinum award-winning Spruce Gin aged in Pinot Noir barrels for 4 – 6 months.

Roundhouse Imperial Barrel Aged Gin:

To make Imperial, we start with Roundhouse’s signature, award-winning Gin, distilled in small batches from the finest all natural botanicals, and then age it to perfection in oak casks for at least 10 months. The process introduces scotch and whiskey flavors causing our patrons to affectionately nickname it “Ginskey.”

Rusty Blade Gin:

Blade Gin specially aged in French Oak with a touch of magic. Unique release unlike anything you’ve had before. Bound to rival any single malt whiskey or cognac brandy.

Smooth Ambler Barrel Aged Gin - Stillhouse Collection:

A barrel aged gin from the excellent Smooth Ambler craft distillery in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Their wonderfully citrus-led Greenbrier Gin is aged for 3 months in a combination of 50% virgin barrels and 50% ex-Old Scout Bourbon barrels before bottling at the higher abv of 49.5%.

St. George Spirits Dry Rye Reposado Gin:

We also make a limited-release, barrel-aged version we call Dry Rye Reposado Gin. Rested in French and American oak wine casks, it has a lovely pink hue and a deep, rich flavor that we think of as an offering to the gods of gin, whiskey, and wine.

Treaty Oak Waterloo Antique Barrel Reserve Gin:

The gin is distilled using local botanicals and spring water, and then aged in new American white oak barrels. Rather than bottling the gin at a consistent age, the 94-proof Antique Gin is comprised of various aged gins. According to Treaty Oak, this is because different flavor elements come to the front at different points of the aging process. So some of the gin is just one year old, while some is more than two years old. That oak adds some warm, whiskey-like qualities to the spirit without totally masking the herbal botanicals. We first tasted this one about a month ago and, tasted blind, it’s a confusing, though quite delicious experience.

Watershed Distillery Bourbon Barrel Gin:

Bourbon and Gin are two of our favorite things. Naturally, we wondered what would result if our gin was influenced by a tasty bourbon barrel. We carefully selected old bourbon barrels and used them to age our Four Peel Gin.

More to come as I run across them, or just leave a comment referring me to more. Barrel-aged gin; it's what's for dinner.

Yeah, about making round ice cubes ...

NOTE: At some point, I'll be moving this alcohol-infused blog over to the new domain name "canadianginic.ca" but, until then, you've earned another post for your patience. So let's talk about making spherical ice "cubes" for your cocktails, shall we?

Why spherical ice balls? Because shut up, that's why. Oh, wait, wrong blog. Because if you want to keep your cocktail cold without your crappy, bar-standard ice chips watering it down within minutes of delivery, your best bet is a single, large ice ball which represents the most efficient way of cooling that cocktail, while having the mathematically minimal surface area to reduce the melting and, consequently, to reduce the annoying watering down of your precious scotch or bourbon. (I love math. Did I mention I love math?)

I was first introduced to ice balls at the appropriately named "Ice Plant Bar" in St. Augustine, FL. by master bartender Zach Lynch who had, behind the bar, what was obviously a handmade ice ball creator:

into which you stuff a large chunk of ice, and thermodynamics does the rest, sucking the life out of the excess ice while leaving a perfectly spherical ice ball in the round cutouts between the large blobs of aluminum.

Don't believe me? Voila:

whereupon your cocktail ends up looking like this:

Yes, that's my drink, and I bought it solely because it would require Zach to make me an ice ball. Marketing, folks. Marketing. Oh, you suddenly want one of those? Well, then ...

First, you can get these babies online in various places. There's Williams-Sonoma, where you can appreciate the luxury quotient based on the price of either a 2" or 2-3/4" ice ball maker. Yow. Which is why I tracked me down a local machine shop, and I'm going to be making some of my own, but you'll have to wait a bit more for that to happen. But we're not done here.

The basis for the ice ball maker is the heat conductivity of the material used, and every one I've seen is based on aluminum, mostly for the light weight. After all, you're talking about a couple massive chunks of material, and aluminum at least allows you to be able to lift it behind the bar. But is there a better choice?  Ha ha, I'm glad you asked.

There's lots of yammering about copper, which has better heat conductivity, and there's been some misunderstanding about commercial ice ball makers made from copper. For example, here is a YouTube video, claiming that a gorgeous Macallan ice ball maker is made from copper.

You wish, dude. You only wish.

Note that, in the comments section of the above, a number of folks take that video to task for being misleading, but it would have been simple to debunk the claim, anyway. One needs only to do a bit of simple research to learn that the specific gravity of aluminum is 2.7 while, for copper, it's 8.96. Which means that an ice ball maker made from copper would weigh 3.3 times as much as an equivalent one made from aluminum. So while a copper ice ball maker would be delightful and a real conversation piece, it ain't happening anytime soon unless you lift weights.

But if you stay tuned, we here at CG HQ are in the process of manufacturing some of our own, and if you'd like one, why, yes, we can chat.