Buddies in booze

THORNHILL, Ont. — Who knew Vaughan has a distillery district?
Well, sort of.
Still Waters Distillery, tucked away in an industrial parkway in Concord, is actually the province’s first and only microdistillery, founded by Barry Bernstein and Barry Stein.
The company’s single malt vodka just brought home a bronze medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The project started a few years ago when longtime friends Stein and Bernstein decided to leave their jobs and become importers of fine scotch.
“It all came about because, being friends for quite some time and our families being friends, we travelled a lot together on vacations and we’re both scotch lovers,” Stein says. “We were absolutely amazed at the variety of scotches that were available on the market that we don’t see in Canada at all.”
So the duo — Stein, a former director at a national distribution centre, and Bernstein, owner of a software company — began investigating what they’d need to do to import these drinks for personal enjoyment.
“We decided on one fateful day we’d get the ball rolling and start a business,” Stein says.
“Probably over some scotch — maybe too much,” Bernstein laughs.
Five years — and plenty of scotch — later, the two took the next step and became distillers of their own vodka and whisky.
“After a few years, we decided distilling is really what we wanted to do,” Bernstein says. “The thought had always been there. At the time, there was no one in Canada. And now we are the only one in Ontario. Really the whole industry was in its infancy then.”
It took the friends about a year of planning before they could get up and running. Aside from normal business planning, there was the need for licences, background checks and equipment, which eventually came, custom-made, from Germany.
And then, the real fun started.
Still Waters produces beverages from grain to glass, Stein says.
They import raw grain from Western Canada, produce a mash — like a beer — with the grain and hot water, which turns the starch into sugar. Yeast is then added to the mash in one of the fermenters to turn the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The mash is then distilled three times, then filtered and bottled.
“It’s hands-on, not automated,” Bernstein says. “We are constantly checking the alcohol as it comes off the still — by hand and taste.”
“We’ve got it pretty much dialed in and now it’s like clockwork,” Stein says. “We can time our watches.
“To go from start to finish, (it takes) about two weeks, from grain to glass.”
The process wasn’t always so cut and dry, they admit.
“The first step was getting a mash that actually worked,” Stein says. “We know the process and we knew what we needed to do, but we didn’t have the formula nailed down bang on the first time. It took us a few mashes.”
“It’s the difference between textbook knowledge and practical experience,” Bernstein adds.
They say they were quite pleased with the vodka that came off the still that first time, though.
“But, it took us probably three or four rounds of doing mashes to get to the point that what was coming off the still … is what we have in the bottle now, which is ‘Ah. This is what we wanted. We hit it. We got it,’ ” Stein says.
It’s buttery and silky smooth, Bernstein says.
“It doesn’t burn,” he says. “It’s not harsh at all. There’s no added glycerin – just barley, water and yeast.
“People often use mix to mask the taste of the alcohol. But people who do mix with this vodka say it enhances the sweet and the savoury. We find that quite impressive.”
Stein and Bernstein have been showing their single malt vodka at food and wine shows across the country. They say they’ve always been met with positive response.
“I’ve never seen anyone taste it and say, ‘Ick, I don’t like that,’ ” Stein says.
And, samplers at shows have been pretty impressed by the products “local” tag.
“We’ve actually been surprised by how many people are into that angle,” Bernstein says. They are now redoing their packaging to play up the Made in Canada label.
Still Waters also has produced a malt whisky, which is aging in oak barrels.
Vodka and whisky start off the same way, Bernstein explains.
“It’s the same exact ingredients to start,” he says. “Whisky’s not distilled to as high a purity off the still as vodka.
“And whisky is matured in oak barrels for a minimum three years.”
So, Bernstein and Stein have to be patient. But, they have sampled.
“It’s actually called ‘newmake’,” Stein says. “We can’t legally call it whisky until its aged for three years.
“So, we’ll have to wait. Maybe even longer.”
In the meantime, Stein and Bernstein are working to expand their market. They are currently sold primarily in Alberta, because the entry into the market isn’t as controlled as other provinces.
They are also sourcing out rye whisky and gin for possible products.
And now, family and friends who were once a little bit surprised at the duo’s choice of startup business are volunteering to help out.
“They thought we were crazy,” Bernstein says. “This way always just a fantasy. Like, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to?”