Gin may be a quintessentially British tipple, but Canada is certainly giving our friends across the pond a run for their money when it comes to the humble G&T. With numerous distilleries popping up across the nation and picking up numerous awards, the Great White North is starting to become an authority on the juniper-based beverage.
The latest to appear on our radar is Eau Claire Distillery's Parlour Gin, so-called to reflect the history of the prohibition era when many a bathtub batch was made. It's a London Dry style gin is made from over 15 botanicals, including Saskatoon berries and rose hips – however, it was the coriander that really jumped out on the first sip. Eau Claire's Parlour Gin is made using a unique distillation technique that carefully sources Alberta grain to make small batches of the liquor, as indicated by the handwritten number on each beautiful bottle.
Eau Claire Distillery, created in 2014, kick-started a craft distillery scene in Alberta following the change in the province's liquor regulations, which allowed micro distillers to create spirits in small batches. If you feel like branching out, Eau Claire Distillery also makes a number of other spirits. As well as specialty gins (Christmas and Cherry), the distillers make a vodka, a single malt whisky, and an apple brandy, plus the very intriguing Prickly Pear EquineOx – a barley-based white spirit, highlighting the flavor of Prickly Pear cactus and citrus, that belongs entirely its own booze category.
The Parlour Gin is available in limited qualities at the LCBO, but if you can't get your hands on a bottle you can order online.
$49.40, lcbo.com
