Page 48 - Beverage MasterFebMarch 2021_Update

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like amaro or aperitivo. It has not prevented distill- Italian grocery stores and restaurants beside parks
eries from exploring less well-known drink styles in Toronto where, all summer long, people could
- recent releases include spirits as diverse as saffron just crack open chilled, single-serving Negronis to
liqueur, pastis, Shochu and dry vermouth – but it drink outdoors. In fact, it has been so successful
does present an unnecessary obstacle to experi- that Dillon’s plans to make bottled cocktails a big-
mentation. ger part of their program. “That’s the future,” says
Geoff. “We’ve got
four or five new
ones coming out
this year. Most of
them are classics,
but we’re going to
do our own spin
on the classics
using local cher-
ries, strawberries
and that kind of
thing.”

In a marketplace
where ‘ready-
to-drink’ (RTD)
canned cocktails
and hard seltzers
have exploded in
popularity, and
at a time when
Of course, no discussion of obstacles in 2021 would takeout dining has all-but replaced the restaurant
be complete without mentioning the ongoing experience, it makes sense that micro-distilleries
Covid-19 pandemic. It has been devastating for the would look to sell more exciting RTD cocktails than
food and beverage sector, with one result being Jack-and-Coke. Plus, they give customers an idea
that distilleries, breweries and wineries in Ontario of how to use a less well-known product from the
have lost most of their restaurant and bar sales. distillery, like sweet vermouth or bitter aperitivo,
For operations that rely heavily on those sales and a chance to sample it before buying a whole
accounts, it could have been disastrous. But one of bottle. At a time of great uncertainty, when it feels
the advantages small distilleries have is the ability as though much of life is on pause, Dillon’s is still
to pivot quickly. In early March, Dillon’s committed finding ways to develop new, exciting products.
its stills to the manufacture of sanitizer and disin- Hopefully the rest of Ontario’s craft distilleries con-
fectant, leading Ontario’s micro-distilleries in an tinue to follow suit.
effort to fill the overwhelming immediate demand,
even offering it for free to frontline healthcare
workers and other essential services.

The pandemic did have a positive effect on one
particular Dillon’s product: their bottled Negroni
. “When we released the Negroni two-and-a-half
years ago, it was too early. We thought it was going
to blow up and change the world,” says Geoff. The
landscape has changed rapidly though. “We’ve
sold very little of anything else to licensees,” he
laughs. “But we’ve set volume records just sell-
ing Negronis. A palette a week was just going to
licensees.” Dillon says that it was all mom-and-pop

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