Tasting Tour Of Toronto's Distillery District With Go Tours Canada
Published On Thursday 13 Jul 2017 by Sticky Beak
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Having done a food tour around St Lawrence Market in the morning, it was over to the Distillery District in the afternoon for a food and drink tour with the dapper Aaron from Go Tours Canada. We hopped on a City sightseeing bus for a few stops to see some of Toronto’s fine architecture and hopped off at what used to be Canada’s largest whisky distillery when it was owned by Gooderham and Worts.
The site is largely intact from when it was re-built after a horrific fire earlier in its history and now has some accommodation units and is home to around 100 independent traders of food, drink, ceramics, glassware, millinery, clothing, and chocolatiers.
Aaron showed us a gallery of paintings depicting the development of the site before whisking us off to the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company to sample some of their Sake. The first Sake we tried was their signature unpasteurised Nama Nama variety; it was incredibly silky to drink and surprisingly delicate compared to others I’ve tried. We then tried two of their Arabashiri first run Sakes; 118 is a Blood Orange and Ginger type at 17.6% abv, 119 is a Watermelon and Olive version at 17.4% abv. His Nibs loved the warmth from the ginger on his tongue from the 118 Sake, and I was really surprised at the clarity of the Watermelon notes in the 119 Sake.
I never realised that you can get three “cuts” of Sake from one distilling; Aaron was telling us that the third cut is a great belly warmer when the weather gets cold. It was great to be able to see all their brewing equipment in the back of their space and really get a sense of what the company was about.
Our next stop was another alcoholic one; The Spirit of York Distilling Company who specialise in Vodka, Gin, and Aqua Vitaes. Maryke Ballard, the Marketing Manager, showed us around the Distillery and poured us some samples. The Vodka was incredibly smooth with no hint of harshness to it at all, even drunk neat as we did; it really was superb.
The Man Bird is rather partial to a fine Gin and he loved the light Lavender note of Spirit of York’s variety; it was rather nice I must agree. Our final sample was an Aqua Vita (water of life) and this tonic certainly did gee us up! It wasn’t harsh at all, but you definitely got distinct warmth at the back of your throat from it.
We had a bit of a breather from alcohol and went over to some art units where Aaron introduced us to his friend Jill Cribbin at work in her studio, Tank Glass Jewellery. Jill very kindly said she would make a glass bead for an earring from her “Heron” collection, named after she was inspired from visiting a friend who resides at Lake Heron. I stood in wonderment as Jill heated the glass, shaped it, added more layers and some colour accents, and finally popped it into the kiln.
The skill involved was incredible and I now see why hand-crafted jewellery is more expensive than mass produced stuff; until you witness the skill, work, and concentration involved I don’t think you really appreciate this fact.
Food is never far from my mind, so I was very happy when Aaron took us into Wildly Delicious to sample some of the cheeses they sell, their own compotes, and some homemade biscuits (plain and poppy seed types).My beady eyes spotted the Blue Cheese within a nano-second and as I tucked in to it with some Ice Wine compote, and wowsers was it good!
The Man Bird and Chick were gobbling up the pasteurised Cows cheeses as well, which surprised me as Chickadee isn’t the biggest fan of dairy products. I paired the non-veined cheeses with a stonkingly good Blood Orange and Port compote which apparently is jolly good on toast for breakfast; sounds just my start to the day! The plain cheese biscuits could just slip down easily as crisps to be fair, they were lovely and light in the mouth and incredibly “snackable”. We took our leave and headed over to Mill Street Brewery, crafters of fine ales and even a Beer Schnapps (more of that later).
Mill Street Brewery is a fantastic space; light, airy, high-ceilinged, and with a yeasty, hop-py tinge in the air. Canada has recently celebrated its 150th year of history, and to mark this huge occasion Mill Street Brewery brewed “Red Ensign”, an ale with Raspberry in it.
Now there has recently been a trend to add fruits to pale ales, causing divide amongst drinkers; purists don’t like it one bit, others take as they find. Personally I thought it was nice enough, and His Nibs finished his glass off smartly so I think it safe to say he likes it. Their Organic Lager was very light and clean on the palate, and I think that it was my favourite of the day. 100th Meridian was another lagered ale that we tried, and we both really liked its bright taste. The fourth and final brew we tried was the West Coast-style I.P.A and this had floral and citrus notes bouncing around all over it; I got a really good Grapefruit taste coming through in it.
The Bierschnaps was an odd one; paired with a twin beer, the idea is to have a sip of Schnapps, a hit of beer, then go back to the Schnapps. What got me was the difference in perceived taste the Schnapps had when you had it before and after the beer; post-beer it seemed more robust and warmer on the back of the throat.
Our last stop of the afternoon was to Soma Chocolate Makers. What caught my eye was the Chocolate laboratory in the back of the premises; this apparently is where all the magic happens when it comes to product development. This team hand-make a huge amount of chocolates ranging from batons, chocolates and truffles, and cookies, and the first thing we were treated to was a 70% cocoa baton. It had a gorgeous rounded flavour, no bitter after-taste, and was deeply satisfying as it melted on the tongue.
A trio of chocolates came next; I had the Feuilletine Caramel, His Nibs had the Whisky Truffle, and Chickadee had the Thai stick Truffle. All three were declared to be marvellous, The chick liked the fresh but spicy notes of the Thai truffle and I was totally bowled over by the gooey centre and ultra-fine crisp layers of the Feuilletine. The Boy Wonder thought the velvety centre of his truffle had the perfect Whisky balance to it.
Thanks to Aaron at Go Tours Canada, we had a truly fantastic time in the Distillery District. The energy of this area is breath-taking and the architecture really is stunning. If you find yourselves in Toronto, you definitely need to come and wander around this traffic-free area; not only will you discover art in all forms here, but the relaxed vibe will re-charge your soul.
Toronto is a great city full of friendly folk and it has a great cultural diversity that’s reflected in the food, the music, the architecture, and the shops. We only stayed for three days, and really could’ve done with a bit more time to fully immerse ourselves in everything this city has to offer.
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