Episode: 2 Canada West Coast
Title: Victoria Distillers
Broadcast: Jan 28th 2017
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane and Scott Taylor

Victoria Distillers is one of Canada’s oldest small batch spirits companies. Trevor and Scott try award winning gin and vodka.

• The spirits are all hand made and the distillery offers tours and tastings to explain to visitors how artisan sprits are made are created, from selecting the botanicals to the blending and bottling to the hand numbering of each batch.

• You can end the tour by sampling the spirits straight or in one of their cocktails. Phil Lecourse is the distiller here and explains to Trevor and Scott the 10 botanicals that go into their flagship gin - most important of the 10 is the juniper berry, its conifer evergreen fragrance gives the principal smell and taste.

• They also try the fair aged oaken gin, made with the same flagship gin but matured with oak, the wood provides vanilla and banana notes to an over all rounded and softer flavor of the aged gin. Next is vodka distilled with fine organic hemp seeds; the hemp seeds impart buttery type oil into the vodka, which in the distilling process changes to a hazelnut flavor. The oil from the seeds gives a viscosity and weight to the vodka imparting a full-bodied mouth feel.

• Lastly the head bar tender Jay Jordan makes a ‘smoken oak’ old fashion made with a smoked filled glass, oaken gin, angostura bitters, orange bitters and a little smoked maple syrup. Set aside a full afternoon here to get the full experience of the tour plus spirits tasting time.

For more information:
Destination Canada URL: www.explorecanada.com.au
Air Canada URL: www.aircanada.com.au