The creators of the Georgian Bay Gin Smash have cracked open a new venture with their long-dreamed and finally realized public retail store.
The Georgian Bay Spirit Co. distillery opened a retail store May 30 at the 395 Raglan St. location in Collingwood.
“It’s great to have the store open to get people in and experience the brand. We are pretty excited,” said co-founder and co-owner Denzil Wadds who went into business with partner Tim Keenleyside, 11 years ago.
The store carries tall boy singles and packs of all the coolers, including those not listed with the LCBO, and bottled spirits and cocktails. The store also sells branded merch.
It is now open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The company leased the space in 2018 and started to build the distillery. The unit had formerly been a barrel warehouse for Canadian Mist whisky. Because alcohol is explosive, an explosion-proof room was built within the space. It has a window three-inches thick.
Three years later, the distillery opened during the COVID pandemic. All the gin for the spirit bottles and coolers is now made in-house. Bottling of spirits is done in-house too. Canning of coolers is done off-site.
“Initially this was just a manufacturing site. The public wasn’t allowed in the door, but we always planned something here, said Wadds inside the shop.
They were going to build a tasting room, but it proved more expedient to build a retail shop. However, tastings will begin soon.
Bottled gin was the company's first product, launched in 2013. (At the time gin was created at an out-of-province distillery and shipped to Ontario.)
The company's first cooler was the Gin Smash, which came on the market in 2016.
"It was the first craft cocktail can in Canada," said Wadds.
"That was the craziest year of my life, trying to keep up with demand. Working with the LCBO, we projected to sell 16,000 cases (of 24 cans) and we ended up selling 72,000 cases," he said. "That's when the company took off and started to grow exponentially."
Due to the success of Gin Smash, Georgian Bay launched a Vodka Smash in 2017.
"That was the first year the category (ready-to-drink) started to proliferate in Canada and a couple of years later, it really took off," Wadds said.
The company added tequila and gin sodas, and vodka ice tea to the Georgian Bay line and added new brands including Wyatt Rose Ranch Water, BFF Benefitting Furry Friends Beverages, Side Door Ready-Made cocktails, and the Georgian Bay Cocktail Club. Five cents from every can of BFF drinks is donated to animal charities.
The company also produces gin, vodka, and whisky. The vodka was started in 2017 and has been winning international awards ever since. It was featured in Forbes magazine as one of the top vodkas in the world.
"It is a really special vodka," Wadds said.
Wadds said he and Keenleyside are happy that they got in the ready-to-drink market on the ground floor because the category is now crowded.
"LCBO gets 900 to 1,200 applications every year from around the world," said Wadds.
At the same time, the public's level of drinking has generally gone down, he added.
“People aren’t drinking as much so most booze categories are declining, but ready-to-drink is still growing quickly. You can get everything in a can now."
Georgian Bay now produces more than 30 products and flavours.
In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, the company recently launched Eco-Gin, which is available at the LCBO. The outer packaging is made of paper-board and the liner is recyclable.
"It's five times lighter than glass and six times less of a carbon footprint, plus we plant a tree for every one sold," said Wadds.
Additionally, the six-pack holders are made of recycled paper-board and are recyclable and biodegradable.
Learn more at georgianbayspiritco.com.
