North of 7 Distillery — Attraction in Ottawa

I had organized a group Feb 2016 using groupon to do a tour of the North of 7 distillery. Jody is one of the co-owners and he was refreshing about they did not know what they were getting into and it was a lot of trial and test and sample lol... Greg the other co-owner when queried mentioned some of the challenges running a craft distillery in Ontario. I had looked into a document on LCBO markup which is high even on federal excise tax so tax on tax with only a small portion going to the distillery. The then 22 month white dog aging into Canadian whiskey should a lot of promise.

We organized a return trip for June 2017 and sampled some new products such as the Canadian whisky, 57% rum and spiced rum as well as the white dog, gin, vodka and regular run. My favourite surprisingly was the 57% rum which considering I am not a rum tippler as the norm except for the very occasional rum and coke or cocktails.

The tour is a nice way to spend an hour, find out more about distilling and sample some very good craft products. I have bought the Gin and the 57% rum for myself and a bottle of Canadian whiskey from the 2nd barrel...

A really great craft distillery in Ottawa; passionate folks making things the old way but keeping in mind modern tastes.

I was visiting the city with my father and figured we'd stop by to check things out. Co-owner Jody met us at the door and chatted while we sampled their delicious products.

I was a huge fan of their corn-forward North of 7 "Canadian Whiskey" (Bourbon by any other name), a contender for those that like Bulleit or Buffalo Trace. A pleasant spice and rich vanilla on the palate and an easy finish. Got me thinking Mint Julep in this heat!

Their Leatherback Rum was also fantastic. Caramels/toffee and a notes of molasses balance the slightly overproof (57%) spirit wonderfully. Immensely sippable but would also make killer old fashioned Daiquiri.

Definitely recommend stopping here for a great...

I'll start by saying I'm a huge fan of their whiskey and the fact that it is made in Ottawa is even better. However, from a business operation point of view I find it incredibly frustrating that I went to their shop to physically pick a bottle up as a gift, and they were closed, with no announcement of such on their door or on their social media. I'm not in a position to order online from them so I need to actually pick it up from them. I waited for half an hour to see if anyone would open and during that time 6 other individuals attempted to enter the store as well. I'll of course go back and pick up a bottle when they do open but I find it very poor and disappointing business that they can't do a simple task of keeping their customers informed of their true operating hours, especially with the approaching...