GEORGIAN BAY JUNIPERIN GEORGIAN BAY GIN

ISSUE THIRTY FOURSUMMER 2015

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GEORGIAN BAY JUNIPER

on my first trip to cottage country this summer, i happened upon georgian bay gin. thinking it was cool to have a traditional summer drink inspired by the bay i was

ten minutes away from, i decided to find out more. here the owners tell you the origins of georgian bay gin.

STORY: TIM KEENLEYSIDE &DENZIL WADDS

georgian bay gin is the passion project of business partners and advertising executives, denzil

wadds and tim keenleyside. the idea to make georgian bay gin started over two years ago

during one of our company’s regular friday afternoon meetings. fingerprint communications,

a toronto-based boutique advertising agency, had been in the business of branding other

people’s products and services for over a decade and we decided it might be interesting

to develop a brand of our own from scratch. many of our agency outings and activities have

revolved around wine, spirits and food, from wine tours to a monthly newsletter called the bar

cart roundup which features a mix of agency news, cocktail recipes, wine reviews and food

pairings. given our interests, developing a spirit brand seemed a natural place to start as we

saw an emerging trend in the craft spirits industry in ontario. with the help of trace hanlon, a

friend who was working as a spirits agent at the time, we did some research into spirit trends

and discovered that our favourite spirit, gin, had been growing rapidly as a category over the

previous two years. the decision was made on the spot - we would get into the spirits business

with gin as our first product.

27visit the story link, at www.localmagazine.ca

with our advertising backgrounds, coming up with a

strong brand and bottle design was relatively easy. during a

company ski trip in collingwood, we were both looking out

over georgian bay from the top of a hill on a sunny day when

the name came to us – georgian bay gin. it was the right

name for so many reasons. the waters of georgian bay are

clear and refreshing. wild juniper bushes cover the rocky

shores and islands of georgian bay and the smell of the

iconic georgian bay white pine evokes the refreshing, piney

smell of gin. also tim happens to have an island property on

georgian bay where wild juniper can be harvested. we got

to work on sourcing a bottle and designing a label befitting

a premium, small batch ontario gin. we then submitted our

product concept to the lcbo.

the lcbo first reviews new spirits based on the brand

concept and marketing plan alone. however, we knew we

would eventually have to submit an exceptional gin to go with

our brand concept. while developing the brand concept, we

found a distillery, still waters distillery in concord ontario,

willing to work with us. next we had to develop a recipe

that would live up to our own high standards. this involved

sourcing and experimenting with premium botanicals from

around the world, including hand-picked junipers from

georgian bay and water from spring water township which

is considered to be the purest water on earth. over many

months of testing and sampling - we tried over 49 different

recipes – we settled on a winner. the final product includes

a blend of georgian bay juniper, italian juniper, egyptian

coriander, orange peel from tuscany, lemon peel from

california, angelica root and grains of paradise.

every fall, on tim's georgian bay island, his family,

including his two daughters aged six and nine, pick as many

juniper berries as they can. they put out large sheets under

the juniper bushes and wear gloves to do the harvesting.

Junipers are actually a type of cone and not a berry. they

mature over several years, with the 'ripe' blue junipers being

prime for picking in the fall.

a year or so ago when we got the news that our gin was

accepted by the lcbo, we didn’t have long to celebrate

as we quickly learned that there’s more to making gin than

a great looking bottle and a great tasting spirit. suddenly,

we had to learn about inventory control, consistency,

shipping logistics, storage, bottling and distribution. as

Georgian Bay Gin & Tonic

IN GEORGIAN BAY GIN

our manufacturing knowledge has increased so have sales.

georgian bay gin sells in 80 select lcbo stores and

growth has been steady. aside from the pride associated

with creating our brand, one of the most rewarding things

about georgian bay gin has been the feedback we get from

our consumers. we’ve heard from people all over ontario

and beyond about how much they love our gin, which has

led us to explore potential markets in the us and oversees.

we have other products in development and just launched a

brand of vodka, bessie starkman prohibition this spring.

Ingredients:50mL Georgian Bay Gin150mL premium tonic waterSoda waterSqueeze of pink grapefruitSprig of cilantroLime wedge

Fill rocks glass with iceRim glass with lime wedge

Add gin and a squeeze of grapefruit juice

Add tonic waterTop with soda water

Garnish with cilantro and lime wedge