Patrons will step back into the pre-Prohibition era with the opening of a new distillery in Grand Valley.
Grand Spirits Distillery is moving into the old Grand Valley public school. Built in 1892, it operated as a highschool until it was shut down in 1969. After public outcry, the building reopened as a junior school until at least 1981 and has been sitting empty since the school closed.
The distillery, which is a first in the area in 100 years, will be opening next spring. A grand opening will be held July 1.
Founder Jamie Stam developed a love for the history and lore of the town when he moved there from Mississauga one year ago after surviving a major heart condition.
“I nearly checked out, and it took hours and hours of surgery and months to recover. I came up to Grand Valley, for me to kind of settle down,” he said.
Retiring from the corporate world, Stam took a mixology course and found himself immersed in the cocktail culture.
“I kind of grew up in that too. I’m a child of the sixties and seventies, where my parents would have friends over for cocktails. My mother would greet my father when he came home with a cocktail,” he explained.
Three months ago, an opportunity arose for his dream to become a reality.
“I think when I came to Grand Valley and realized … the extraordinary beverage and alcohol lore and history of this town, which most people aren’t aware of, and then when the school house became available, suddenly everything kind of fell into place.”
Stam explained Grand Spirits will be hyper-local, using ingredients and food sourced from area farms. The distillery will produce craft gin and whisky, he said, as well as moonshine and vodka.
“I’d be obsessed with the idea, wouldn’t it be amazing to create a distillery where everything was locally sourced,” he said.
“The malt, the barley malt, the corn for the whisky, those things were sourced locally, literally up the road. The botanicals, the juniper berries and the herb and spices used to make gin are readily available on the Grand River.”
Stam’s local idea extended into involvement in the distillery. Through crowdfunding, individuals can become founders by contributing between $100 and $2,500. The $100 founder receives a $100 lifetime credit for Grand Spirits products and three bottles of vodka, gin or whisky over three years. The perks increase for a “bootlegging founder” at $2,500, which includes a $100 lifetime credit, a case of the alcohol of choice for three years, a name on the wall in the tasting room, a private speakeasy party event for 40-plus guests, hands-on training and experience and a custom first fill oak barrel.
Stam has also offered angel equity investing, for those wanting to buy into the company.
Already, Stam said they had raised over $370,000 through these methods.
“I decided from the very beginning that this would not be something that would be just Jamie’s party, that it would be something that the community would be heavily involved in. I thought that was just smart from a business perspective,” he said.
The campaign ends on Labour Day, Sept. 5. More information can be found at www.artofgin.com.
History of alcohol in Grand Valley
Grand Valley was one of the last towns to go “dry” during Prohibition in Ontario.
Stam, who also is a member of the town’s historical society, said the main street had three taverns when the Temperance Movement affected many communities.
“The movement was catching on all across the province, but there were holdouts in different communities,” he said.
People from neighbouring areas would take the train into the small town to enjoy the alcohol that had been distilled there.
“There was this fantastic agri-tourism that went on prior to Prohibition,” Stam explained.
In 1916, the whole province went dry. By 1927, Prohibition had ended – but so too had tourism in Grand Valley.
Grand Spirits will be the first distillery in the town since the start of Prohibition 100 years ago, and Stam said he wants to capture the history to create a bootlegging and speakeasy experience.
“One of the things I really want to play with at the distillery is to sort of celebrate this vibe and create a sort of bootleg experience,” he said.
“That’s where I think we’re going with this because of the history and lore – and damn it that’s fun.”
Grand Spirits is set to open next spring with a grand opening on July 1.
