Local distillery in Ayr is changing the spirits game with their unique gin

Of all the family farms in Waterloo Region, there aren’t any quite like the van der Heydens’ in Ayr. In fact, there are very few family farms in Ontario doing what they are; distilling and making some of the province’s most unique spirits.

Brothers Jordan and Nolan van der Heyden and close friend Cam Formica are the founders of Willibald Farm Distillery; one of the newcomers to Waterloo Region’s spirits scene. Kitchener-Waterloo is booming in craft breweries, but the trio saw a niche for spirits and opened a distillery on the van der Heyden’s family farm on Reidsville Road.

Nolan is the head distiller at Willibald and said the group put in years of research and testing before opening their doors in April of 2017.

“We were really anxious to start some sort of business in this industry producing craft beverages. We started doing our research and travelled to Scotland and Kentucky, where some of the best whiskies come from and we fell in love.” van der Heyden said. 

From conception to execution was close to four years of painstaking work for the Willibald team. Once the infrastructure was in place, van der Heyden says they went to work perfecting the gin. He estimates they went through over 100 variations before settling on the final product which you’ll find in their signature bright yellow-labelled bottle. Williabald’s gin is their flagship spirit, available on the farm and on shelves at the LCBO. 

Gin seems like an unconventional spirit to break into the market with, but van der Heyden says Willibald’s unique take on a traditional dry gin is what makes their spirit stand out.

“We put the gin in the new American oak casks and it ages from six months to a year. That’s where it gets its colour – the vanilla, oak, caramel – all those extra flavours on top of what you’re already going to taste in gin, that juniper-pine.”

Traditional gins pour clear, but Willibald’s takes on the character of the oak barrels and mimics qualities of a whisky rather than a typical gin.

“We just figured, let’s pick a spirit that we love and let’s focus on that. Rather than trying to appeal to a wider market, we want to make the best gin we can possibly produce.” van der Heyden said.

Not only can customers visit Willibald Farm Distillery for tastings, they’re concocting gin-based cocktails on the retail side of their distillery to showcase their flagship spirit. Aside from the traditional gin and tonic, van der Heyden has a few recommendations on how to make a splash with Willibald gin.

“The cool thing about our gin is because it’s barrel aged, it works really well with barrel aged cocktails. Instead of an old fashioned with bourbon, try an old fashioned with our gin. Instead of a whisky sour, we do gin sours here all the time. That oak aging component helps the spirit come through in a cocktail.”

Behind the scenes at Willibald, they’re putting the final touches on some exciting new spirits they’re releasing in the near future. Aside from their Willibald gin, van der Heyden says spirit fans will find a new release at the farm just in time for fall.

“Our first one-off release will be in September and it’s a two-year barrel aged spirit that we’ve been barrel aging with 15 bushels of organic apples that will be cold-pressed and macerated with a bunch of winter spices. It’s really dynamic, complex and very well-balanced and we’re really excited about that.”