ELORA – Gin lovers have a chance to taste more than 30 unique hand-crafted small-batch gins outside the Elora Centre for the Arts this weekend.
June 10 is World Gin Day, and the Craft Gin Festival includes live jazz music from The Matthew Morgan Trio, local food and gin-themed games, including a “martini relay.”
Nine Ontario gin distillers will showcase unique gins and cocktails during the event. One even makes non-alcoholic gin.
The mastermind behind the event is Marty Van Vliet, co-owner of the Elora Distilling Company.
He said participating distillers are able to produce creative and unique gins because they work with small batches.
The Elora Distilling Company makes its gin in a 200-litre still, he said, meaning it makes between 100 and 200 bottles per run.
The small runs enable them to “mix and match and put all kinds of botanicals in,” including local seasonal ingredients like spruce tips, which are “very soft and tender right now.”
Creative distilling
Juniper is the principle ingredient in gin, Van Vliet said, “but after that you can put whatever you want in it – it’s up to the distiller to create whatever they can think of” to offer a wide range of flavour profiles.
Large producers making two million litres of gin at a time aren’t able to be so creative, he added.
The Craft Gin Festival will feature the six member distilleries of the “Craft Gin Trail”: Junction 56, Elora Distilling Co., Spring Mill Distillery, Dixons’ Distilled Spirits Inc., Silver Fox Distillery and Willibald Farm Distillery — along with Last Straw Distillery from Vaughan, Paradigm Spirits Co. from London and Sobrii, the Stratford-based distiller of non-alcoholic spirits.
The festival takes place on June 10 from 12 to 6pm. Tickets are $19 at eloracentreforthearts.ca or $20 at the door.
For more information about the Craft Gin Festival this weekend in Elora, visit www.craftgintrail.com.
