Review of District's Local Watering Hole....But Elevated

Winery Review of Workshop Spirits @ District Wine Village

DWV Series - 4 of 10

Workshop Spirits - District Wine Village sign

I had to stop in here after experiencing tastings at Uppercase Winery and Foolish Winery. Why? Because of numerous recommendations by the Wine Hosts at both wineries. This unique spot is a haven for expertly crafted cocktails.

Upon entering Workshop Spitits, you are awakened by the hot pink accent wall opposite the entrance, facing out to the patio. Next to this wall, you'll find a wallpapered collage of palm leaves - offering a hint of a 70's vibe. Many live green plants carry this green throughout the rest of the space. But what immediately caught my attention was the bar setup. Now I'll admit that my party was their first guest of the day at Workshop Spirits, but the tidy order of the bar was impressive. The hot pink wall was filled with an array of glassware-lined shelves. I saw many dried herbs and floral garnishes; this immediately gave me hipster vibes. This impression was changed when speaking to the "Wine Host," Damon. He presented himself and his passion as a true craft bartender.

Now, Workshop Spirits were only serving tastings of their hard seltzers. All their seltzers have 0g of sugar and 1g of carbs. They all are around 85 calories per can (depending on the flavour). 100% natural flavours with no artificial colour - the only way to tell them apart is to taste them. The ingredient list reflects this simple approach - water, natural sugar, flavourings (fruit), and champagne yeast (to make it boozy). Each can is 5% alc. Damon was like a proud papa to say that lab tests verified these stats.

Head of Cocktail development at Yellow Dog Beverage Co crafting drinks and guiding seltzer tastings.

All of their seltzers are made in Neighbourhood Brewery (in Penticton). Due to this, they cannot guarantee them being gluten-free. Now, you've read my review on Foolish Winery. In that case, you may remember that Neighbourhood Brewery is part of a family of businesses, including Yellow Dog Brewing (in Port Moody) and Foolish Winery (in Oliver). And yes, Workshop Spirits is part of this same family - Yellow Dog Beverage Company.

Currently, Workshop Spirits focus is on Ready To Drink (RTD) products, like their flavorful hard seltzers and branching out to canned cocktails, with the goal of the customer opening a perfect cocktail every time. All you have to do is add ice and garnish. What sort of RTD cocktails does Workshop Spirits plan on producing? Well, Damon was very tight-lipped on this answer. I couldn't tell if he was just being coy or didn't know. As I was gathering my notes and research for this review, I figured out that he was being coy as I found out after the fact that Damon is the Head of Cocktail development at Yellow Dog Beverage Co!

Aside from the RTD cocktails, Workshop spirits will make spirits. Gin and vodka will be their focus. I had asked why only these and not something like whiskey. Damon's answer was that he is passionate about gin, not whiskey. Why bother making it if you don't have that passion for whiskey? Valid point.

Onto the tasting!!!

First up is Lemonade Stand. This one had the flavours of a strawberry lemonade. And as stated on the menu, it does evoke a feeling of being poolside on a hot summer day. I know that Damon said that these were all 0g of sugar. Still, with the aromatics heightening the flavour, I was immediately taken aback, forcing myself to remember this detail. I could swear there was some sugar if Damon didn't tell me there wasn't.

Up next is Slammer. A blend of passion fruit, guava, and orange. An incredible tropical fruit punch. This one, too, was crystal clear, just like Lemonade Stand. On sight alone, you can't tell them apart. You can identify that they are different hard seltzers only on smell and taste.

The third was Purple Freezie. Damon gave us the background story on this one. Their distiller was given a purple freezie, in all its sugary artificially flavoured yumminess and tasked to replicate it. I wish this were the last one to have tasted, as this one blew…me…away! The menu gives the descriptor "bursting with delicious grape flavour that will transport you back to your childhood," and it indeed did. On the nose, it genuinely smelled like purple freezie. On the palate, it tasted just like a purple freezie! Again I'll note that even this one was crystal clear, and I had to be reminded that this flavour is also 0g of sugar. And this was still made with all-natural flavours with a base of grape and some other natural extracts to get this perfect purple freezie flavour.

Finally was the Doctor Cherry—a sweet and tart showing of black cherry inspired by Dr.Pepper. I did love the cherry aromas from this the most.

A bevy of beautifully crafted cocktails.

Once done tasting their hard seltzers, you can choose from their expertly crafted cocktails to enjoy. Their menu consisted of eight selections. Talking to Damon, he told us that this menu changes as he has many recipes up his sleeve and other ideas rattling around his creative mind. The current plan is to change the cocktail menu every 4-6 weeks. This allows for some seasonality to their selections and keeps Damon's creative imagination going. An idea that Damon wants to do over the spring and summer seasons is a new release every Friday.

Cheers 🥂

-BC Wine Nerd

PS - You can visit my Instagram or Facebook page to see more pictures from this visit.

Website: Workshop Spirits

Instagram: @workshopspirits

Email: hello@workshopseltzer.com

Address: District Wine Village