Day 8: Eight Maids-a-Milking Cream Spirits
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” takes a dark turn on day eight. Bringing eight bovines into your living room, could be very expensive once you factor in divorce lawyer fees. Fortunately, today’s distillers have a better idea. More of them are making creamed spirits than ever before. So why not let them do the actual milking? Here are eight examples that will put a smile on your true loves face.
Dairy Distillery: Dairy Distillery Cream (17%)
Omid McDonald and his team at Dairy Distillery blend just three ingredients to make Vodkow Cream Liquor: Vodkow vodka, dairy cream, and sugar. Rich, creamy and as milkshake-flavourful as it is, the folks at Dairy Distillery have not added any extra flavouring or colour.
Dairy Distillery homogenizes its own base cream in-house which allows them to produce Vodkow Cream Liquor entirely in house, in the small Eastern Ontario town of Almonte. Not only is Dairy's Vodkow Cream Canada's only lactose-free dairy cream liquor, it has the added distinction of being the first spirit labelled with the prestigious Dairy Farmers of Canada's “blue cow" quality milk designation.
Want more variety? The distillery has recently introduced an Almonte Friendship Series Vodkow Cream Liquor Gift Pack that includes 250ml bottles of the original cream along with maple cream, chocolate cream and coffee cream. Num!
250ml $10.90, 750ml $29.95
Gretzky Distillery: Gretzky Distillery Cream Whisky (17%)
Team Gretzky has blended their No. 99 Red Cask whisky – itself a blend of aged rye, malted rye and corn whiskies finished in their winery’s red wine casks –with fresh local cream. Accenting the rich and creamy milky notes are almond biscuits, chocolate and Christmas spices backed by the punch from the whisky’s oak. Any hockey player who says, all they want for Christmas is their two front teeth, should trade their dentist appointment for a bottle of Gretzky Whisky Cream. We’re confident it’s rich in tooth-building calcium.
750ml $34.95
Forty Creek: Nanaimo Bar Cream (15%)
At Forty Creek Distillery, blender Bill Ashburn has taken everything good about Nanaimo Bars and made it even better in a liquid form. This whisky cream melds flavours of graham crackers, chocolate, butter, vanilla and coconut into a decadently luxurious holiday sipper. Great too for your holiday coffee creamer and especially delightful if you forget to add the coffee.
750ml $29.95
Hansen Distillery: Morning Glory Cream Liqueur (17.4%)
When customers asked for an Irish cream-like spirit, distillery owners Shayna Hansen and Kris Sustrik landed on Morning Glory. Their customers quickly forgot about the Emerald Isle and embraced this Edmonton cream instead. There is a bundle of warmth in Hansen’s Morning Glory, with rich chocolate and roasted hazelnut flavours – indulgent and creamy. We won’t be surprised if we hear about customers walking into Irish distilleries and asking for the Edmonton stuff.
750ml $34
Distillery Mariana: Saint Crème (17%)
Making sucre à la crème is a timeless Quebec tradition with recipes passed down from one generation to the next. This fudge-like treat is made with brown sugar, white sugar, heavy cream and butter. Simple and delicious. Distillery Mariana brilliantly has taken Quebec’s sugar fudge and liquified it into a cream liqueur. They tell us it’s better than your Quebec grandma’s recipe and after tasting it, we can confirm that they’re right. Sorry grandma. Saint Crème is indulgent and decadent with caramel fudge notes blending into the experience without bringing any sugary heaviness. A delicious tip of the hat to tradition.
750ml $34.75
Rig Hand Distillery: Double Double (17%)
We all know that a double-double at any coffee shop in Canada means coffee with two cream and two sugar. Order a double-double at Rig Hand and you’ll get a whole lot more. Inside the replica bottle of the Leduc #1 drilling rig (the iconic Alberta rig that struck oil on February 13, 1947, marking the beginning of the province’s oil industry) is a rum-based spirit blended with fresh cream, three kinds of coffee, chocolate, caramel, vanilla and hypoallergenic hazelnut extract. Creamy, decadent and silky smooth.
750ml $36.20
Monashee Spirits: Big Mountain Cream
Monashee makes its cream liqueur with local espresso from Revelstoke’s Stoke Roasted Coffee Co. They further enhance the brew with chocolate, caramel, almond, vanilla honey, maple syrup and Monashee spirit. Chocolate and nutty roasted almonds rise to the top of a pleasing palate that’s incredibly creamy.
There is a reason why the distillery is often sold out: it’s exquisite. If this happens to you, take advantage of being in ski heaven and hit the nearby slopes while you wait. Another batch is always on the way.
375ml $30, 750ml $50
Top Shelf Distillery: Reunion Moonshine Irish Cream (25%)
Top Shelf Reunion Irish Cream Moonshine at 25% abv is a rare and very small batch delight for your true love's Christmas breakfast coffee. Its rich and creamy texture is caressed by sweet milk chocolate and vanilla, with hints of coffee and almond cream. Top Shelf Distillers makes an extensive range of products and when it comes from them, moonshine never tasted so good.
750ml $34.95
Join us tomorrow for Day 9: Holiday-Themed Spirits suggestions. Or, if you’d rather figure it out on your own, there are many more spirits to be found in our book The Definitive Guide to Canadian Distilleries – a gift suggestion in itself and one that’s worth its weight in five gold rings.