BEVERAGE NEWS
A
spirited revival
The Headwaters Region’s first (legal) distillery in a century is set to open in 2017 By Kristen Smith GRAND VALLEY, Ont. — Changes to Ontario legislation surrounding craft distilling has opened the door to future operators like husband-and-wife team Jamie and Sheila Stam. The couple moved to Grand Valley, Ont., about a year ago and plan to open Grand Spirits, a resto-distillery, in an old schoolhouse built in 1892 on Mill Street. “We fell in love with the town and fell in love with the lore,” said Jamie. As the story goes, after most Ontario communities had gone dry in response to the Temperance Movement, Grand Valley’s three hotels — The Dominion, The Commercial and The Central — catered to those in the region looking for a stiff drink until provincial prohibition legislation was passed in 1916. Dubbed the first legal distillery to open in a century in the Headwaters Region, the schoolhouse has sat empty, windows boarded, for three decades. A soft opening for Grand Spirits is planned for April, with an official ribbon cutting ceremony on July 1 2017. In the spring, the couple issued a call for crowdfunding in an effort to foster community involvement and a sense of ownership in the new distillery.
Jamie grew up in what he called a “Mad Men” household, from which grew an appreciation for cocktails. The natural progression for the distiller was a curiosity in the components of cocktails, especially gin. The distillery has been a dream for Jamie for quite some time, and a serious goal for about five years. With changes in provincial liquor legislation, such as required minimum production, and more on the horizon, the business model and margins look more reasonable. “The regulations where such that is was unrealistic unless you were one of the big boys,” said Sheila. The ability to have a smaller still — Grand Spirits will be running with a 100-gallon capacity — allows distillers to run them more often. “Every weekend, when people come to visit — because at the end of the day, we’re a destination location — people will see things happening … the magic of spirit production,” said Jamie. Production will focus on gin and whisky as well as what Jamie called “novelty products,” such as a Star Shine, a 60 per cent abv moonshine made with non-GMO corn, and absinthe
Jamie and Sheila Stam. infused with cannabis. In addition to onsite craft distilling, the first floor of the schoolhouse will also be home a full service restaurant with 43 seats and walnut bar with a dozen seats. The second floor is earmarked as office space. Jamie plans to use the “creepy and wonderful” basement to help create what he envisions as a “bootlegger experience” for guests. Behind the bar, Jamie will joined by local talent, Raissa Stevens, who will also head up Grand Spirits’ online presence, and Lisa Farrows, who will also lend her artistic and design talents to create the “speakeasy meets steampunk” interior decor.
“Our still looks like something out of Jules Verne — it’s all copper and stainless steel with glass columns,” said Jamie. “We’ll carry that thematically through the restaurant, so there will be copper pipes, exposed brick, all sorts of random gauges and so forth.” Sheila said the restaurant menu will focus on small plates with “local, authentic food.” She hopes to be able to bring in some local talent to helm the kitchen. “One of the starting points for the food is pairing with the cocktails and drinks,” said Sheila.
“Really what we do is curate the list based on style. We don’t specifically go after a brewery, we go after a style of beer.” Although the beer menu and flavours differ from location to location, the decor maintains the brand’s “industrial modern” theme. “The look and feel, from my perspective, is the same when you walk into all of them,” L’Heureux said, noting the Toronto location is the first new building to house a CRAFT Beer Market. Each location is fitted with a central island bar and steel draft tower that connect the bar to the glass-enclosed keg room, capable of holding up to 300 kegs.
The beer is delivered through twinned, thinner-than-average draft lines to maintain freshness. “We’re cleaning lines every single day so the beer is fresh as can be,” L’Heureux said. With the Ottawa location introducing CRAFT Beer Market to Ontario about a year ago, L’Heureux noted the province’s craft beer production is exploding. “There’s some amazing beer in Ontario already. It’s going to determine who is the best of the breweries,” L’Heureux said. “There’s going to be a lot of young, one-year breweries that are producing beer that’s blowing everyone’s mind.”
CRAFT Beer Market to open Toronto location TORONTO — While CRAFT Beer Market is about to open its fifth location, the company’s founder PJ L’Heureux believes the restaurant’s business model is far from the traditional concept of a chain restaurant. CRAFT Beer Market will open its first Toronto location in early 2017 at the corner of Yonge and Adelaide streets. The Toronto menu and recipes will be the same as its counterparts in Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, L’Heureux said the local approach to sourcing ingredients adds a regional twist to flavours. “If you have a burger in Alberta, and compare it to B.C., it’s different. It’s different beef so it’s not going to taste quite the same,” he said. “Everything we do is localized. We don’t get national pricing at all.” The menu is billed as “new North American classic cuisine” and includes signature items like beer can chicken and fast food sushi (a reimagined hamburger, with lettuce and tomato and wrapped in bacon with a side of dill aioli). “Fast food sushi became one of our biggest selling items,” L’Heureux said.
1 6 | Ontario Restaurant News
For its 160 beer taps planned for Toronto, Ontario breweries will represent more than 50 per cent of the list. L’Heureux explained offering more than 80 local beers on tap will help open new markets for craft producers. “We kind of bring it to a commercial level,” he said. “When you get out to the market and meet all these breweries, you realize there isn’t a great platform for them to get out in the market.” L’Heureux added he partners with local breweries to create exclusive beers for the restaurants in each of the five markets. “Our goal when we go into any market is to have as many exclusives as we can. Ontario has been a bit of a challenge for us, but we’ve managed a couple already,” he said. “We really go after beers and breweries that will be great partners, and are doing the right thing in the craft beer industry.” The beer list will also introduce Toronto to brews from other provinces and Europe. “We try to do stuff that is going to hit market, that isn’t in the market,” L’Heureux said.