Waterloo Gin

All about Waterloo Gin distillery

Even though it is now closed, the Waterloo Distillery is an indispensable part of distilling history in Canada. It was founded in 1857, north of Winnipeg. In 1869, Joseph E. Seagram had already risen to the level of partner in the firm.

By 1883, he had taken over the company completely and secured a liquor dynasty that would last for generations. Seagram sold the facility to the Distillers Corporation, and the famous Bronfman family took over. When Crown Royal was released in 1939, it was produced at Waterloo.

In fact, Crown Royal was produced exclusively at Waterloo for generations, until the demand outstripped the facilities ability to produce. It was then that production became shared with the Gimli Distillery. In 1990, most of Crown Royal output came from Gimli, and the more modern facility had capacity to spare.

Then, in 1993, a major fire occurred at the Waterloo plant. At the time it no longer made economic sense to rebuild when more modern, lower cost production was already online and ready to fill demand. The last remaining buildings have been transformed into offices and loft apartments.