The Last Straw Distillery is Ontario’s smallest production micro-distillery located at 40 Pippin Rd. in Vaughan, Ontario (a wee bit north of Toronto) just off Highway 400 and around the corner from Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre. According to Mike Hook, the team at Last Straw Distillery come to the craft of distilling from a variety of different backgrounds, and surprisingly none have had prior experience in the beverage or alcohol business. They are self-taught, and developed their recipes in house, through research, and trial and error, without the use of outside consultants.
The Last Straw Distillery Blackstrap Rum is one the few rums in the world actually made from blackstrap molasses rather than sweet molasses. One of the reasons there are so few is because blackstrap is much harder to work with than sweet molasses as the sugar content is lower, and the sugars are harder for the yeast to access. The tradeoff is that blackstrap molasses gives a richer, more robust flavour when it is distilled. It took the Distillery about 6 months (of experimentation) to discover a method to obtain reasonable yields out of blackstrap molasses without sacrificing flavour.
Last Straw’s Blackstrap Rum is double distilled and aged for a year in a toasted new European oak cask. The rum contains no additives, flavours or colouring and is, of course, made directly from molasses in-house. Last Year I reviewed the Blackstrap Rum from Cask #1, this time I am having a crack at the Blackstrap Rum from Cask #2.
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: Last Straw Distillery Blackstrap Rum (Cask Two)
Please enjoy my latest review and my recommended cocktail, the Winter Daiquiri.
Alamo is a tequila brand sold by Minhas Distilleries in Western Canada. I reviewed part of the portfolio a few years ago, but recently I noticed that a change had occurred concerning the distillery of origin for the tequila brand. In my previous review I had noted that the NOM on my sample bottles was 1529, which indicated that the spirit was produced by Agaveros y Tequileros Unidos de Los Altos, a tequila producer which typically distills agave grown in Los Altos, the highlands of Mexico’s tequila producing region. However, the new spirit sold by Minhas now carries a different NOM (1438) indicating the distillery of origin for the current spirit is Destiladora del Valle de Tequila, S.A. de C.V., a producer which typically uses both highland and lowland agave in its production of Tequila.
Dunville’s is a whiskey brand first established in Belfast during the 19th Century. Originally a whiskey blender, Dunville & Co. built the Royal Irish Distilleries, on the edge of Belfast in 1869. Unfortunately, Prohibition had a severe impact on the Company as they lost access to US markets during the first quarter of the 20th Century. Although the company weathered that storm, it continued to decline after Prohibition until the firm was wound up (still in a profitable state) in 1936.
Colin Schmidt was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1992. After being drafted, he spent four years playing College Hockey and then signed his first pro contract in 1996. Colin’s pro experience was brief, cut off by a few shoulder injuries after a short spell of what Colin referred to as “playing left bench.” Fortunately, as far as we are concerned, Colin’s story did not end there.
Alamo is a tequila brand sold by Minhas Distilleries in Western Canada. I reviewed part of the portfolio a few years ago, but recently I noticed that a change had occurred concerning the distillery of origin for the tequila brand.
The Rum Howler Blog 