Nestled in Toronto’s historic Distillery District, in what was once the world’s largest distillery, Spirit of York Distillery spent two years researching and developing its product line before opening in 2017. In 2022, Simon Ho joined Spirit of York as president alongside founders Rob Cudney and Maryke Ballard, and CEO Mike Leskovec.
During its early years, Spirit of York’s growth was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ho says it was one of the first distilleries to switch to creating hand sanitizer. “By the end of it, though, it was tough to bounce back from,” Ho said. “Our tasting room was a large part of our endeavour. We had staff bottling hand sanitizer just to maintain our team. I don’t think it was easy for anyone.”
Matt Driscoll is the master distiller and received his master’s in brewing and distilling from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. A creative force, often toeing the line between out-of-the-box and out-of-this-world ideas, Driscoll has inspired some wacky and wild creations like a Christmas spirit made from distilled fruitcake and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch vodka.
“It tasted like a really boozy Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It sold out, and I don’t know if we will do it again. It was a lot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that [Driscoll] needed. At one point, there were dozens of boxes in the back …. It was a shocking amount of cereal.” Each box of cereal would pair up with roughly 10 litres of product. In the distillery’s laboratory process, there were between 15 and 20 boxes of cereal and approximately 200 bottles of the final product.
Inside the distillery
Spirit of York uses CARL Stills from Germany. “We have one large column still, one pot still and one smaller 150-litre column still in our laboratory,” Ho said. “We also have a 40-foot rectification tower that sits in a space out of our back door; it’s connected through pipes and makes for a cool showpiece. Being in a historic area, we had to find a way to fit it, so part of it ended up outside the building.”
We like what we do, but we are never only doing it for ourselves.
Simon Ho, Spirit of York Distillery
In addition to the stills, they bottle on site, using a manual bottling line and an automatic labeller. The whole process can be witnessed while browsing for the perfect product in their bottle shop. Additionally, their entire distillery’s process is also viewable from their tasting room, as it is furnished with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. “You can see everything that we do, that was one of our brand pillars,” said Ho. “That transparency in local craft is important.”
Spirit of York’s core spirits are vodka, gin, whisky and aquavit, and it offers several expressions of each spirit. It also produces seasonal products such as coffee liqueur, pink gin, harvest gin and a limoncello-like beverage.
The aquavit was developed in response to demand from Toronto’s bartender scene, leading Spirit of York to create its own, which has now become a key part of its lineup. Additionally, it produces ready-to-drink cocktails, including seltzers, only available at Spirit of York. Its whisky requires a minimum of three years of distillation.
Precision in the process
Spirit of York produces spirits a bit differently from other distilleries. Instead of a typical run, it produces a high-proof spirit that acts as the foundation for its other products. It might conduct four to six consecutive runs of gin or add water to produce vodka. The gin distillation process takes about 48 hours from charging the still to obtaining the final product.
“We try to let things rest a bit to let out the volatiles because of the way we produce, it’s a minimum of 40 days before we bottle it and get to it. Typically, it’s about a three-month timeline for mashing, stripping and distilling into grain neutral spirits, which we hold, then production carries on from there depending on the product.”
The distillery’s shortest timeline is between 11 and 12 days from grain to vodka, and gin would be roughly a day and a half on top of that timeline.
“We do have much narrower cuts than most people,” said Ho. “We cut about 15 per cent deeper, and we know numerically what we are aiming for, then taste from there to confirm it. So, it could be 14, 16, or 14 and change, but it’s always within that area from a purity and flavour standpoint. We really want to eliminate that acetate that comes off at the beginning, so [the process] of cutting deeper really enhances the drinking experience.
“The entire process is pretty enjoyable … I think it’s the collaborative nature that I enjoy most.” That collaborative nature goes beyond the distillery’s core team.
Collaboration and community
Once a year, Spirit of York offers a program called Bartender Gin. As the name suggests, bartenders from across Toronto gather at the distillery and can create their own gin. “Being able to share that experience and have them go through [the process] is pretty cool,” Ho said. “That feeling, I enjoy that – a bunch of people working together in a creative process to come up with a product for other people’s enjoyment. We like what we do, but we are never only doing it for ourselves.”
Spirit of York’s products can be purchased primarily from the distillery and online. Customers in Ontario can find its vodka, gin, aquavit and Canadian Blended Whisky at Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores. All of its products have won awards, primarily from the San Francisco Spirit Awards and the International Spirits Challenge.
“It’s not my ultimate goal to win awards. It’s nice to be recognized, but win or lose, I’m just hoping to make the best booze possible,” said Ho. “I’d much rather be recognized by people in my community right now, especially in Ontario. We want people to be proud of what we make. Farmer Joe, who we get our rye grain from, [we want him] to be proud of it and share it with his friends. That means so much more to me than a gold medal.”
Looking ahead
Spirit of York is about to start another batch of its Bartender Gin. Additionally, it intends to release more aged versions of its whisky. The distillery has also recently added a farm-to-table food program in its tasting room to complement its locality, with a focus on true seasonal food to accompany its seasonal cocktails.
Finally, Spirit of York plans to introduce a premium bartenders’ lineup while also focusing on a high-quality, less expensive spirits line.
