Out in Prince Edward
County, there is an abundance of beautiful stuff. It’s a place of
fresh air, beaches, and expansive wineries. Anyone who has been there can tell
you that there’s no shortage of pastoral scenes to gaze at while wishing you
could paint. For those of you with little to no romantic sensibility, Price
Edward County has something else to offer, which anyone should be able to admire.
Right in the middle of it all, in Bloomfield, ON, sits 66 Gilead Distillery.
It seems
somehow appropriate that the distillery is named for its address on Gilead
Road. 66 Gilead was built in 1874. Owners and operators Sophia Pantazi and
Perter Strozlt showcase their impressive array of spirits inside a historic house
that’s almost as old as our country. You know what was happening in 1874? New
York City annexed the Bronx. The Dakota gold rush began. Jeans cost $1.12. And
if that fact alone is not reason enough to get you to go check it out, the
quality of their products should convince you to grab a buddy and hit the road.
Right
now, in their temperature-controlled, custom-made copper stills, some of
Ontario’s finest whisky, rum, gin and vodka is being made. These aren’t your
commercial, mass-produced whiskies and gins; they are complex, various, and
full of character. Every batch is truly small-batch, every bottle contains the
results of a carefully crafted recipe.
Many of the ingredients that 66 Gilead uses
are grown on their own property, including the juniper berries and the lavender
for their LCBO-carried Loyalist Gin.
Their commitment to keeping it local is made all the more apparent when you
consider that even the barrels they age their dark spirits in are sourced from
a neighbouring, honest-to-goodness Cooper, The Carriage House Cooperage.
It’s dedication like this that
allows 66 Gilead Distillery to distinguish itself in a market that is saturated
with uninspired spirits from companies so massive they have gravitational pull.
Speaking
of local values, Peter and Sophia are as hospitable as can be. Seriously, they
want you to come over. Take a tour and learn about the distillation process,
and then expand your horizons in their tasting room. There, you can sample an
impressive range of spirituous drinks, including their Crimson Rye
Whisky, Duck Island
Rum, and Canadian Pine
Vodka. A must-do is the oak barrel-aged Black Dragon
Shōchū, a traditional Japanese liquor made from barley, rice, and
sesame.
This
distillery, along with the other members of the OCDA, faces tremendous
challenges in trying to promote their products. They deal with huge
competition, legal impediments, and restrictions on where they can sell. They
believe that craft distilling has inherent value, and are proving it, bottle
after bottle. But it goes beyond craft, beyond locale, beyond batch size. These
are people with Ontario-based business and production at heart, and they express
this conviction by putting it into practice, crafting and offering the goods they
are passionate about (though it’s practically a service, so direly are we in
need of new cocktail options).
Only now
is the local craft distillery movement beginning to find its footing in the
mindset of the discerning spirit-drinkers of this province. Make room in your
head and in your liquor cabinet for 66 Gilead
Distillery. Visit WEBSITE.
Note: Article written by Dylan Nassr.
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The Ontario
Craft Distillers Association (OCDA) is a non-profit organization
dedicated to promoting the success of Craft Distilleries in the Province of
Ontario, Canada. For more information on the OCDA or our constituents
please contact us directly.
You can also get social with OCDA on Facebook and Twitter.
