Looking for something entertaining to do this summer? You can flee to a completely different country just minutes from Downtown Detroit.
This week, our sponsor, Destination Ontario, has shown me a variety of great places to visit in the Windsor area, and you can do the same for free.
Canada is well-known for many things, including whisky. Across the Detroit River, you can take a tour of one of the world’s largest whisky distilleries. You must go to the source to fully appreciate authentic Canadian whisky.
The Hiram Walker & Sons Distillery in Windsor is North America’s largest whisky distillery, accounting for nearly 70% of all Canadian whisky production. For the past 165 years, it has also been the home of the award-winning J.P. Wiser’s Whisky.
Master Blender, Dr. Don Livermore guided “Live in the D” co-host Tati Amare through the distillery’s blenders’ class and whisky tasting tour.
Hiram Walker, who lived in Detroit at the time, founded the distillery in 1858. Dr. Don says that one of the items he sold was moonshine that had been run through charcoal to remove undesirable flavors. He became well-known for it and decided to open a distillery. So he bought the 400-acre property 160 years ago for 13,000 pounds, and there were only two houses there at the time. Walker never obtained Canadian citizenship, so he had to drive to the distillery from Detroit every day to run it.
The master blender holds a PhD in brewing and distillery, making him a whisky doctor. He has spent 26 years at the Hiram Walker Distillery, where he was the master blender, which is the person in charge of inventing new whisky products and brands.
The brew house, according to Dr. Don, is the fermentation area and the “heartbeat” of the whiskey-making process. For Canadian whisky, they make the corn, rye, barley, and wheat separately, distill it separately, age it separately, and then combine the ingredients at the end via recipe. He says that the distillery produces about 50 million liters of absolute alcohol per year and manufactures some of Canada’s top whisky brands. He also stated that J.P. Wiser’s Whisky is the number one whisky brand and that it is beginning to roll out in the United States, especially in Michigan this summer.
Visitors can take a tour of the distillery, and Dr. Don guarantees that they will be able to get up close and personal with the whisky-making process. Following the tour, you will visit the J.P. Wiser’s Whisky Experience center and sample a flight of four different whiskies.
Visit the Destination Ontario website to learn about all of the exciting activities available in Ontario.
Remember to bring your passport and vaccine card with you to cross the border.