Ontario Spring Water Sake Company

It’s a very traditional sake brewery. Huge 1000-litre silver vats bubble with the potent mixture of rice, specially imported Japanese mould spores, and natural spring water. The frothy mixture will eventually distil into clear, clean, fragrantly delicious sake. Two serious-faced Japanese men are hard at work, turning cranks that press the potent liquid from the fermented rice. The papers affixed to the walls display the brewing schedule, written out in Japanese. It’s the sort of scene you might expect to find in one of the many smaller artisanal breweries near Kyoto, so it’s surprising to find such a scene in the Distillery District, just a few kilometres east of Toronto’s downtown core.