Nearly two dozen students completing the Artisan Distilling Program revealed five new spirits and one new cocktail bitters, April 19, during a capstone spirit release party at the Wine Visitor + Education Centre to celebrate their hard work.
It’s an opportunity for graduating students to show off the products they’ve created from scratch and to share those products with others in the class.
“We do small groups (of) three to four students for these particular projects, and the group has the opportunity to build a product more or less from the ground up, seeing all the steps,” said Head Distiller David Dickson. “I try to be hands-on while giving them as much of the reins as they can handle at any given time.”
Completing a capstone project is a requirement of graduation. It draws on all the skills a student has learned over the course of the program and is intended to demonstrate their mastery of artisan distilling.
Their spirits are then showcased in cocktails that are served at the release party.
“(These) cocktails weren’t designed by the students, but in previous semesters, some of the cocktails would be,” Dickson said. “One of the cocktails was more or less the brainchild of a student. It was a S’mores Martini. Originally, we were talking about making a S’mores liqueur, but because of some technical challenges that was a little bit tricky, so we made the S’mores Martini instead.”
The S’mores Martini showcased Campfire Chocolate, a liqueur with notes of fudge brownie, velvety chocolate and undertones of coffee. The combination of extracted and distilled chocolate makes the spirit more delicate and allows for less sugar.
Other capstone projects included:
Grandma’s Apple Pie – an apple-based spirit made of in-house pressed, fermented and distilled apples. A combination of distilling methods was used, but the largest flavour contribution came from a single-distilled brandy style distillation.
Horizon Bound Spiced Rum – a mix of botanicals including nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, cassia bark and mace with a larger emphasis on nutmeg character. It was created using rums that had already been aged for a year by previous students.
Limoncello – a lemonade-inspired spirit with pronounced lemon flavour with coriander and hints of other botanicals. It’s easy to sip or to pair with some bitters or other cocktail recipes.
Olive Oil Gin – named to underpin the flavour of the product, its flavour characteristics are derived from luscious botanicals infused together with high quality first cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. The flavour is balanced with classic dry gin flavours including juniper and citrus notes, bound together with orris and angelica root.
Mango Bitters – inspired by the creators’ love of mangos and the use of green mangos in cooking, it has a strong flavour and aroma of ripe alphonso mango and green mango with background notes of citrus and spices, including coriander angelica root, nigella seeds and black pepper.
All but Grandma’s Apple Pie are available at the Wine Visitor + Education Centre while supplies last. Grandma’s Apple Pie is available exclusively to distilling students and members of the Niagara Craft Beverage Club (formerly the Wine Club). Sales of the spirits support student education.
The idea for a capstone spirit release party came on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Dickson and Assistant Distiller Ian Bickle thought it would be a fun way for students to wrap up the program together before heading their separate ways after graduation. The event is held twice each year.
The next capstone spirit release party will take place in August.
