Reid's Distillery is run by a family that handcrafts their own gin right here in Toronto using wild foraged Canadian ingredients.

The Reid family is originally from the UK, and this distillery is inspired by the booming craft distillery industry there.

The space doesn't conform to the typical brewery/distillery feel with an occupancy of 150. This is due to the fac that it's in a former CrossFit gym that's been completely transformed with a sweeping bar, plant wall, custom furniture, and personal touches like guitars, a chess board and family photos. 

A "signature experience" guided tour here is just $25, and starts off with a welcome Citrus G&T. Grapefruit and lime wedge garnishes bring out the grapefruit and lime peel used to make Reid's gin, the cocktail presented deconstructed with portioned gin and Fever Tree tonic, giving drinkers control over how they taste the product.

From there, the experience includes a tour of the manufacturing facilities and explanation of how Reid's turns beer into vodka and eventually gin, using German stills and towering bourbon distillers.

One of these big distillers is nicknamed Matt after the Glasgow-born grandfather of the Reid family, and an artisan still is named for grandmother Maureen, known for her cooking.

It's so named because this is the equipment used to infuse the gin with Reid's 11 specific botanicals.

After viewing the equipment, a tour includes a tasting of the individual botanicals and distillates used to make the gin, such as wild foraged Canadian juniper and coriander from a family farm in Saskatchewan.

Reid's even designed their own bottles, wax-sealing and handwriting the batch number on each one.

The Reid's final product is a 42.2 per cent gin that's more toned down and smoother than your average London Dry gin, made with coriander, cubeb, cassia, orris root, Angelica root, juniper, sweet fern, fennel, apple, lime peel and grapefruit peel.

Tours are bookended by another complimentary cocktail based on the tasting experience. A Spiced and Smokey G&T highlights spicy cubeb and cassia (commonly presented as cinnamon), the glass smoked with cassia bark.

The $12 cocktails include a French 75 made simply with gin, lemon and sparkling wine, light and juicy in comparison to the full-bodied smoked G&T.

Cheese, charcuterie and seafood boards as well as vegan hummus are priced per serving so portions are scalable, all components obtained from hyper-local suppliers like Butchers of Distinction and Hooked. Even fennel salami and lime coriander shrimp are meant to enhance the flavours of the gin here.

Take home a 750 mL bottle of gin for $50.50, available past the LCBO's closing hours.

Other merch includes shirts, totes and coasters, and they're looking into items like soaps, bath bombs and beard oil as well.