Sept. 10th: Good spirits!

I love it when a day just works out.  In the process of trying to figure out how to spend the day, we found out that a friend could use a ride to the ferry terminal.  Since he had given us many rides to the ferry terminal in the past, we were happy to repay the favour, and on our way we discovered how we would spend our day. There are a number of wineries in between Victoria and the ferry terminal so we decided to check them out.

Despite growing up near the Niagara region of Ontario, I have never actually been to a winery before, so this impromptu date was quite a treat.  We first stopped at the Church & State Winery, which was really big and quite fancy.  There was a wedding taking place there at the time, but we were still able to enjoy a wine tasting.  I really like sweet wines and I eventually found out that all of the Church & State wines rate a 0 on the sweetness scale, which explained why I wasn't the biggest fan.  But Luke really enjoyed the Quintessential wine (their big award winning wine) which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc Franc, Merlot, Malbec - and one other that I can't quite remember.  It was a little rich for me, but I could understand why he liked it so much.

Then we made our way up the road to check out some of the other places, and came to Victoria Spirits.  Had we paid attention to the name we might have figured out that it wasn't a winery, but once we got a tour of the distillery we figured it out.  Victoria Spirits is best known for their gin, but they also make Vodka, an Oaken Gin (for the whisky drinkers), and bitters.  They also help distill things for other companies.  For instance, at the time that we were visiting they were distilling Meade for Tugwell Creek, located in Sooke, BC.

After Peter took us on the tour of the distillery we headed upstairs for a tasting of these spirits with Phil.  Now - I enjoy my spirits, but I generally prefer them mixed with something. The only time I've really tasted gin or vodka on their own is when I've taken sips of Luke's martinis, and I've always found them to be a little too strong for me.  Interestingly, when I sipped on these spirits they were actually delicious. The vodka went down very smoothly, the flavour of the gin was impeccable and quite refreshing, and the subtlety of the oaken gin was quite a surprise.  I was hoping for a taste of the Meade that they were distilling at the time, but Luke and I decided to purchase a bottle at a private Liquor Store on our way home so that we could provide ourselves with our own taste test - and was it ever good!

The other thing that was great about Victoria Spirits is that it was clearly a small business enterprise.  When you drive in, it's just this house with what looks like a barn, a small vineyard (from when they were a winery), a beautiful forest in the back, and a small parking lot for the few visitors that they get at a time.  It was a truly awesome experience. Thank you Peter and Phil for a great afternoon!