Cirka Distilleries — Attraction in Montreal

My wife and I are visiting Montreal this week and high on our "to do" list was to visit one of the local distilleries. We are so glad we found Cirka Distilleries. I have been on many distillery tours and this was easily one of the best.

Using the contact email on the cirka.ca website I corresponded with JoAnne, one of the partners and VP of Marketing. She gave me a couple of options on when we could take a tour and we were all set. Staying at the InterContinental downtown, we picked up a couple of "bixi" bikes and rode along the canal to Rue Cabot.

We arrived a bit early but JoAnne welcomed us (and me by name) and showed us inside. We had a chance to meet the head distiller, Paul Cirka, in his office and see some of the early gin experiments, as well as some samples of the whiskey they are currently aging.

They were hand bottling and hand labeling bottles of their Sauvage dry gin and distilling their Terroir vodka during our visit. Assistant distiller Isabel took a break from the bottling "line" to visit with us in the distilling room. We met the two main stills, Homer (gin) and Mario (vodka, whiskey). Isabel discussed the process of making the "cuts" between the heads, hearts, and tails or "feints" to make the optimum flavor and mouth feel in a neutral spirit like vodka.

They had run about 100 liters out of an expected 400 liters of vodka during our visit, and it was coming off the still at 96.5% alcohol. JoAnne suggested we taste the distillate at full strength (they proof it down to 40% in the end), so Isabel pulled a beaker full for us. We carefully smelled it and then put our finger in to taste it. It was very strong but not at all harsh and had a nice mouth feel.

We finished our tour with a tasting of the Terrior vodka, Sauvage gin, and a limited edition Gin 375 honoring Montreal's 375th anniversary. Each was distinctive and something I would have at home if the government would let Cirka sell bottles at the distillery! A trip to the SAQ is on the to do list for us now.

The Gin 375 uses botanicals only from the province of Quebec and JoAnne kept the tour going through to the end by showing us some of the botanicals they used and letting us smell and taste them.

Really informative and fun tour. I am looking forward to visiting in another couple of years to try...

We booked a tour and whisky tasting at Cirka Distillery for our 7-year anniversary, and although we got confused with the time and missed the tour, the staff were incredibly kind. I called them, and they let us come back a week later free of charge. Everyone was so nice and welcoming.

The tours are offered in both French and English, and they’re not only very interesting but also affordable. Our guide, Christopher, was an absolute sweetheart, he explained everything so well, and it was inspiring to see how passionate he and the team are about what they do. You can really feel the love they put into their craft.

It’s also a great social experience, we met so many interesting people during the tour. If you’re looking for something different to do in Montreal while supporting a local business, this is the spot.

On top of their whisky, I have to recommend their vodka raspberry-cranberry infusion, if you’re a vodka cranberry fan like me, you need to pick one up. It’s only available at the distillery for now, which makes it even more special.

I wish I knew all the staff members’ names to thank them individually, but truly, thank you to the entire Cirka team for making our anniversary...

Had the wonderful pleasure of attending the infamous trivia nights a few weeks ago hosted by the owner and man was I impressed. Not only was the content mind-blowing, the amount of things offered by the staff was just phenomenal. For $30 you get an in-depth 3 part 3h trivia with so much knowledge and effort, a healthy dinner, a variety of complementary snacks and non alcoholic drinks; the cocktails all have a signature style and taste... It was just wonderful! The trivia is in French but he took the time to translate some of it for us and anywho it was so fun and intuitive. If they do another set in English, I will absolutely be going back! For now, I have recommended the French one to many people who will...