Novia Scotia Rum
A Lunenburg couple opening the South Shore’s first distillery this spring had not planned, at first, to make rum.
But in a town built on the trade of salt fish for what is arguably one of the West Indies” most intoxicating exports, the locals were persistent.
“So many people came by and looked at us and said, ‘You’re making rum, aren’t you?’ So we felt like traitors if we didn’t,” said Lynne MacKay, who, along with her partner Pierre Guevremont, owns Ironworks Distillery Inc.
“That tipped the balance in rum’s favour, for sure,” Mr. Guevremont said.
“We thought we better explore this one, otherwise people are going to think we’re crazy being in Lunenburg and not producing rum.”
Their idea had been to stick to raw ingredients indigenous to the area.
“Sugar cane’s a little tricky to grow in Nova Scotia, so we had to go with molasses,” said Ms. MacKay, noting theirs is coming from Crosby Molasses Co. in Saint John, N.B.
While they’ve now made rum, they aren’t sure yet what type it will be.
“Once it comes out of the barrel, we’ll know,” she said.
“It would be our preference not to add anything. A lot of rums have food colouring and caramel added to them. Not to say that’s bad or good. It’s just the way it is. But there are pure rums that are just the molasses fermented, and distilled, period. And, of course, to call it rum in Canada, you have to age it for a year in wood.”
The rum is now sitting in Kentucky bourbon barrels.
“It will probably be golden, I suspect, but it’s a bit of an adventure,” Ms. MacKay said.
By contrast, the apple vodka Ironworks is producing doesn’t need to meditate in the dark before drinking.
“Vodka hops out of the old still and says hello,” Ms. MacKay said.
“You can taste the apple. It sneaks up on you at the end. . . . There’s a richness and a texture and a complexity to it that is quite lovely.”
While she enjoys it neat, the apple vodka can be used for mixed drinks.
“I have a very good friend who just put it in 7Up the other day and said, ‘This tastes really good,’” Ms. MacKay said.
“I think that’s just a travesty.”
The couple is using Annapolis Valley produce to make apple vodka and fruit brandies, also known as eau de vie in France.
“And actually the apple vodka is turning out rather well, if I do say so myself,” Ms. MacKay said.
“The Macintosh have done very well by us, but the Golden Delicious are certainly looking good as well.”
They also hope to use local pears, strawberries, peaches and cranberries for high-end booze.
“I missed by a day and a half getting 1,000 pounds of arctic kiwi,” Ms. MacKay said.
The pair moved to Nova Scotia from Ontario about five years ago. Mr. Guevremont still owns a stock photography company in Toronto and Ms. MacKay, who is a Windsor native, left the film and television business, where she was a costume designer.
The couple, in their fifties, bought the old blacksmith’s shop at the corner of Montague and Kempt streets this past summer. Built in 1893, the post-and-beam structure has a rich history that lends its name to the distillery.
“It’s got an amazing floor in it that shows the history so tangibly,” Mr. Guevremont said.
“It’s worn and eroded in places and burnt in places from the cinders flying from the forges. It’s a work of art.”
Ironworks is aiming to produce about 5,000 litres of premium spirits a year.
“What attracts us to it is the fact that it is sustainable at a smaller size,” Mr. Guevremont said.
“There are no grand plans to take on Seagram’s.”
While the still the company’s using now looks like an overgrown chemistry project, that will soon change.
“The one that’s coming in February is exquisite,” Ms. MacKay said of the Mueller still from Germany.
“(It’s) beautiful and copper and looks like a Jules Verne apparatus with (tubes), portholes and things that bubble.”
The couple has sunk about $750,000 into the distillery, Mr. Guevremont said.
“This is something we enjoy doing and have a passion for,”" he said.
“Typically, for small artisan distilleries, it takes three or four years to achieve what is termed traditional profitability. But as far I’m concerned, it’s wildly profitable already because we are having a ball doing it.”
The couple took a distilling course from Cornell University before jumping into the business about 18 months ago.
They don’t intend to make booze that tastes the same year after year.
“There’s no fun in that,” Mr. Guevremont said.
Instead, they want to experiment with recipes and methods to produce alcohol that changes in taste every year, much like wine.
Their products will likely retail at about $35 or $40 for a 375-millilitre bottle.
“Given the scale of the operation, our cost structure is definitely much higher than the Smirnoff’s of this world,” said Mr. Guevremont, noting Ironworks hopes to sell through the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. as well as straight from the distillery.
Their wood-fired still will be located in what used to be the blacksmith’s forge, but will soon be the company’s tasting area.
Ironworks plans to open its doors to the public in April.
“I’m thinking that a few people will like it,” Ms. MacKay said of the distillery’s product. “They seem to enjoy local things here.”
( clambie@herald.ca)