From flowers to fermentation: New owner revamps popular North Vancouver distillery
After years of working among roses, freesias and lilies, Celia Chiang now basks in the scents of fermentation, wood and grain alcohol.
Chiang is the owner of Woods Spirit Co., a distillery in a light industrial North Vancouver neighbourhood just over the Second Narrows Bridge.
“As soon as I stepped into the space, I fell in love with Woods, the products, the people, the location, the community,” Chiang said.
She was studying distilling at Sons of Vancouver, located just across the alley. “And I think that it was quite serendipitous that a few months after being introduced to Woods that I was told that it was up for sale.”
Chiang bought Woods Spirit Co. in 2023 from Fabio Martini, who had co-founded the business with Joel Myers in 2016. Prior to buying the distillery, the Squamish-raised Chiang owned and operated two flower shops, Blooming Buds in Coquitlam and Port Moody Flowers. She sold both in 2019.
When she took over the business, Woods had six core products, including three amari — bittersweet liqueurs (Campari is probably the best-known example) — and a limoncello, as well as a walnut liqueur called a nocino and its Cascadian Gin.
The amaro line includes classic, clear and a barrel-aged styles. The Amaro Classico is a more bitter, structured amaro, well-suited for cocktails like a negroni. The Amaro Chiaro is lighter and, like Aperol, ideal for spritzes. The barrel-aged is deeper and more complex, better suited as a digestif than an aperitif. This year, the barrel-aged won best in class at the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition.
Chiang has added a vodka, a cremoncello and an arancello (a sweet liqueur made with blood oranges) to the line. Premixed negronis are on the way, and Woods will soon enter the brandy and whisky markets.
Of the whisky, currently aging in barrels for a 2027 release, Chiang said, “I like the idea of something that’s more approachable, that’s more floral and light, and with none of the peatiness” of regular whisky.
Woods is one of the few distilleries in North America that uses a vacuum distiller. The process keeps temperatures low and extracts “fresh and clean” flavours from botanicals like grapefruit, orange and warm wood, says Chiang. Adding a touch of vacuum-distilled citrus, she says, brightens the vodka.
The cremoncello, called Crema Nocciola, is made with hazelnuts from Abbotsford, coffee beans and an oat milk base. That and the arancello are both the result of Chiang talking to people at various farmers and craft markets, where Woods is a regular vendor.
“I am very involved with markets,” Chiang said. “It’s an opportunity for me to learn from our customers, because we’re sampling right then and there, and they can provide feedback. I think that’s one of the most important things.”
She heard from some that they “loved the idea of an Aperol spritz but not the bitterness.” Hence the blood orange arancello, which is sweeter than the Amaro Chiaro. The cremoncello is a Baileys-type substitute for the lactose-intolerant and vegan.
Woods will also soon introduce two bottled negronis, strawberry and coffee, for summer and fall respectively.
“We already had the gin and amaro, but because we’re a distillery we’re not allowed to make things with vermouth, which is wine-based,” she said. “We spent a year-and-a-half coming up with a grain-based liqueur we could use instead.”
She has discontinued one legacy Woods product, however. Made with Okanagan walnuts aged for three years in bourbon barrels, the Nocino has become too difficult to make due to changing temperatures and harder-to-source walnuts. A few bottles remain on the shelves.
The Woods bottle shop is open weekdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The bar is open for cocktails and tastings Thurs-Sun. Check thewoodsspiritco.com for times.
Related
Source: vancouversun.com