Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Junction 56 Distillery — one of our featured attractions from the London, Ontario area — to learn about what they have to offer.
What makes Junction 56 Distillery awesome?
“Junction 56 Distillery Tours give an intimate, behind the scenes look at the distilling process, as well as an opportunity to sample delicious, handcrafted spirits and liqueurs.
Being a small distillery allows the tour groups to get a firsthand look at the equipment that is used to make the products. It allows for a very interactive and unique experience that will be different for each person depending on their existing level of distilling knowledge and areas of interest.
We also provide interesting and fun information on the background of distilling, our business and our perspective on the current status and future of craft distilling in Ontario and Canada.
Did you know all of our grains come from the owner’s cousin’s farm, and are milled onsite? Or that gin is really just a version of a flavoured vodka?
We then move on to a guided sampling of our ever changing and expanding line of products. Each product has its own unique story on how it came to be and intricate flavour profiles that we enjoy having people experience.
We have reinvented traditional spirits such as Gin, Vodka, Whisky and Moonshine by taking tried and true recipes and inserting new processes and flavours.
We are also constantly experimenting with liqueurs based on these main spirits, introducing small batch releases regularly to give visitors a new experience every time they stop by.
What are some of the more unique and wildly successful experiments? We have steeped our moonshine in a cinnamon herbal tea to introduce a liqueur we call Fireshine. We have found black raspberries growing wildly on a local farm, picked them and steep them in our gin to create a liqueur called Black Raspberry Gin.
Not sure how to use these products? We have a variety of recipe cards available for free at the distillery with many cocktail ideas that are easy to create for yourself. We will answer any questions you may have about these cocktails ideas.
Tours are available every Saturday at 11am or upon advance booking, costs $15 and last about 75 minutes. You can also stop in for a guided sampling to try all the products for $5 and take about 20 minutes.”