In September, TWS members visited the Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario. This wasn’t the first time for some of us, as the TWS founders visited in 2017. We toured the grain receiving, fermenters, the stills, the Pike Creek warehouses and then had a blending session with Dr. Don Livermore where we applied everything we learned (and tasted) to make our very own blends. Fueled by caffeine, we groggily boarded a party bus that left downtown Toronto at 5:30am to visit the largest distillery in Canada. Our previous visit included a ton of detail, so this post will mostly be pictures, enjoy!
bubbling like it’s boiling, but it’s actually only about 28-30 celcius!
Our illustrious tour guide, Alex, assisted Don and ensured nobody got lost (or fell into the fermenters)Amy Levesque, master distillery at Hiram Walker, explained the ins and outs of how to extract the flavour profile she and Don want for the finished product off both column and pot stills.
After sampling some Windsor-style pizza from OG Pizza, the warehouse visit was a highlight as always, with an opportunity to try some incredible drams straight from the barrel. The Lot 40 aged in cherrywood was a personal favourite, and HOPEFULLY will be an upcoming release following on the heels of the recent port cask release.
look for Cherrywood lot 40 cask strength coming to the LCBO…. eventually!
Casks are used repeatedly……until they literally fall apart
we bid farewell to this amazing smelling place, but followed it up with an equally awesome experience blending from 140 different possible inputs!hopefully some more Lot 40 CS releases coming in the future….Don teaches the history and science of blending before we tackle the ART of blendingserious science happening herewe MAY have indulged a little while creating our own blends…With that we bid Hiram Walker a fond farewell! There will be no pictures of the party bus ride home, but it was a good time featuring some of the J.P. Wiser’s Alumni series!
Toronto Whisky Society 