B O O K R E V I E W
Top Shelf Reads
Canadian Spirits: The Essential Cross-Country
Guide to Distilleries, Their Spirits, and Where
to Imbibe Them
By Lindsay Risto, Lester Communications Inc.
By Stephen Beaumont and Christine Sismondo
Nimbus Publishing, 2019
While intended as a guide for consumers of Canadian
distilled spirits, Canadian Spirits: The Essential Cross-
Country Guide to Distilleries, Their Spirits, and Where
to Imbibe Them by bestselling author Stephen Beaumont and
National Magazine Award-winning author Christine Sismondo is
sure to be an interesting read for producers and industry members.
Released in October 2019, in hardcover, Canadian Spirits is an
east to west journey across Canada, visiting 160 distilleries along
the way. The authors are cognizant of the ever-changing landscape
of Canada’s distilleries and do caution readers to verify locations
prior to planning a visit. Throughout Canadian Spirits the authors
make mention of upcoming distilleries (many of which are now
open), and unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
other listed have shut their doors.
Despite the difficulty in maintaining an up-to-date hard copy
list of Canada’s spirits producers, the authors have put together a
book packed with history and inspiration for producers. The intro-ductory
pages dive into the history of distilling in Canada from the
early days of small-farm stills to Toronto’s Gooderham & Worts
distillery to prohibition and the resurgence of industry; it’s a quick
– yet fascinating – education that all experience levels are sure to
learn something new from. Producers will be eager to see if their
products made the authors’ “Our Favourite” lists throughout the
introductory pages.
As a guide, Canadian Spirits is sectioned off by region –
Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, The Prairies, and British
Columbia and the Yukon – each with its own subsections. Readers
are given a short lesson on the distilling history of each region
before diving into the distillery profiles. Sidebars scatter these sec-tions
with fun facts, interesting information, suggested tour routes
and other notes specific to the region.
Each one- to two-page profile briefly outlines the distillery,
offers contact information and icons which indicate if the distillery
offers tours, samples, on-site sales or a bar. Up to four products are
listed for each distillery and are either popular products, signature
products or simply the authors’ favourites.
Cocktail recipes, which use products from a single distillery,
can be found at the back of the book, along with a glossary of
terms, both of which will be beneficial to those entering industry,
or simply unfamiliar.
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With provincial borders closed to non-essential travel due to
the COVID-19 pandemic (at the time of this writing), and many
Canadians encouraged to staycation this summer, Canadian
Spirits can help consumers find the distilleries close to them,
and perhaps offer industry a little product inspiration and
regional insight while waiting to see each other on the conference
circuit again.
28 § POURED CANADA § www.poured.ca
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