Local Distillery Unveils Sparkling New Tasting Room

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The transformation of a Miramar industrial space into a handsome craft distillery and tasting room is complete; Malahat Spirits Co. is due to officially unveil itself to the drinking public on Wednesday, September 17.

Created to give visitors a first-hand look at how small batch spirits are distilled and bottled, designer Michael Soriano (Florent, Queenstown) sets the scene with a maze-like entrance meant to evoke the rum-running days of the early 20th century, when ships would smuggle boozy contraband to speakeasies during the Prohibition era.

The 4,700-square-foot distillery, powered by a 1,000 liter, two-column copper still, will be open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday starting September 17 from noon to 5:30 p.m., offering free tours of the space at 12:30 p.m. and $15 tastings that include six quarter-ounce samples of the spirits and a keeper glass.

Currently available at Miramar's Vintage Wines and behind the bar at Cardiff's Pacific Coast Grill, Malahat's first spirits run includes their gold medal-winning sippable spiced rum, cocktail-friendly white rum, and a version of the rum infused with fresh hand-peeled ginger root. Co-founders and distillers Tom Bleakley, Ken Lee and Tony Grillo, whose future plans for Malahat Spirits Co. include the release of aged rum, bourbon and rye, say that they'll also have experimental editions of the rum, from mint to coconut, exclusively available in the tasting room.

· Malahat Spirits Co. [Official Site]
· All Eater Inside Coverage [~ESD~]