Canada has not escaped the global artisanal gin boom. It contributes to it with some fine gins. Gin sales represent the highest growth in the country’s spirits sector and Canadians are drinking gin not just in the summer but in the winter too. Florida is the second-largest U.S. consumer of Canadian gin after California.
“We pride ourselves as whisky lovers and makers but we make damn good gin as well,” says Paul Cirka, founder of Montreal’s Cirka Gin.
“I started my professional career as a landscape architect. After winning a number of design awards I was captivated by computer visualization software and moved into the technology sector. With 15 years of global travel under my belt, I developed a taste for the unusual. I spent more than two years traveling throughout the US and Canada speaking to craft distillers, releasing my first gin in 2016.
“I tapped into my experience as a professional landscape architect where I was fortunate enough to experience an old-growth forest. Overwhelmed by the complexity, energy, and balance in that forest I set out to capture the same spirit in Gin Sauvage. It has become a bartender favorite; at home in classic cocktails like Negroni or Hanky Panky but offers contemporary flavors and complexity for modern cocktails.
“We are one of only a handful of producers in Canada making a Navy Strength Gin. It is not an ordinary dry gin boosted with alcohol. The recipe was developed to take advantage of the higher alcohol with more robust flavors. It is our only barrel-rested gin to honor the process used 300 years ago and true to tradition is offered at 100 British Proof (57.1% alc/vol). Old Tom Gin was created to honor Montreal’s 375th anniversary. Winning the best flavored gin in London at the World Gin Awards it brings forward berries from our region enhanced with honey sourced in the Laurentian Mountains to give it a robust yet gentle sweetness.
Jason and Alayne McIsaac produce Beacon Kasuki and Seaside gin on the western shore of Vancouver Island. Says former Chef Jason: “Seaside gin was inspired by a walk along the west coast shores of Vancouver Island. The idea was to create a gin with a sense of terroir and feel of the region. The West Coast forest, sweet and salty sea air, and the floral aroma that arises from the wildflowers along the shoreline make for a multi-layered, spirit unlike any other. In the gin still, l the botanicals, which are wrapped up in cheesecloth teabag-like bags, are soaked overnight. The next morning the still is fired up and the fluid gas passes through the vapor chamber, then on to the condenser to be turned back into liquid form, as a high ABV gin spirit.”
Alayne used to work for a denim producer. She adds: “When producing our Asian-inspired Kazuki Gin, the vapor chamber’s basket is filled with cherry blossom and tea flower petals, allowing for maximum flavor transfer. Botanicals for the Seaside Gin include: juniper, coriander, kelp, lavender, rose petals, lemon, orange, cardamom, orris root, and angelica. Botanicals for Kazuki Gin include: juniper, coriander, green tea, green tea flowers, cherry blossom petals, dried yuzu and grapefruit, grains of paradise, angelica, and orris root.”
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Ontario’s Levenswater Gins Spring 34 is a potato-based spirit with notes of chamomile, lavender, coriander, and rosemary. Georgian Bay Gin also comes from Ontario. Blackfox in Saskatoon makes Oaked Gin. Canopee gin Forestier comes out of Louisville, Quebec Province. Quebec also has the Distilleries 3 Lacs which produces gins like Lemon Sunflower. There is also a yellow Ungava Gin featuring hand-picked rosehips and balsam fir buds, it uses Nova Scotia juniper berries. Long Table Distillery in British Colombia produces Cucumber Gin.
Ontario’s Foxglove Spirits gin portfolio includes Smoked Maplewood Gin. Malcolm Roberts and Shelly Perry run its award-winning gin brand, Valley of Mother of God, outside Toronto. “The sophistication and complexity of our taste profile comes from the indigenous plants and herbs that are foraged for us locally and from across Canada,” explains Shelly. Although their recipe combines 20 botanicals, juniper lies at the heart of every gin. We settled on an earthy, woody variety from the Ottawa Valley that they blended with a soft, floral juniper from Tuscany.”
Malcolm worked with leading whisky brands in Scotland before moving to Canada to work with international spirits at his Toronto advertising agency. “We wanted to create a sense of ‘rugged luxury’ in our brand that would put Canada on the map. Once their foundational recipe was established, the couple spent 18 months working with tenth-generation Master Distiller Charles Maxwell at Thames Distillers in London to perfect the final recipe. “e didn’t compromise at any point, whether sourcing the botanicals, selecting the packaging or the sustainable distilling process.”
Other classic gins made in Canada include Ampersand Gin (B.C.), and Parlour Gin (Eau Claire Distiller. Alberta). Steinhart Classic Gin (Nova Scotia), Loop Gin (Montreal), Gin Royal (Compass Distillers, Nova Scotia), Madison Park Pink QC), Colossal Gin (Bohemian Spirits, B.C.) and Whistler’s Blackcomb Gin.
The Valley Of The Mother of God has just launched in the U.A.E.
Continues Roberts of Foxglove Spirits: “The UAE is the fastest-growing region for luxury tourism in the world. It seemed like a good time to get in before the stampede. With expats making up 88% of the population, this is a terrific opportunity to grow in a region that is rapidly becoming a leading culture, sports, music, and F&B destination. The F1 Grand Prix season kicks off in Abu Dhabi, the NBA has games scheduled in October, new museums include the Louvre and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim, and there are 53 five-star hotels in Abu Dhabi city, the northern Emirates, and luxury islands. It needs a luxury gin.
“There’s nothing like Smoked Maplewood anywhere. It appeals to gin connoisseurs as well as malt whisky drinkers.”
