made with pride in vaughan
The Last Straw Distillery story is about family and friends coming together to bring a crazy idea to life. How exactly did a group of people with no background in the food and beverage business - let alone in making spirits – build an award-winning distillery in Vaughan, Ontario? It’s a story of imagination, hard work, perseverance, and above all, love. It’s also a story best enjoyed with a dram of Darker Side – so take a minute to pour yourself one, and read on! It started as a brewery. Inspired by the story of John Graham at Church-Key Brewing near scenic Campbellford, Ontario, Don DiMonte was researching what it would take to open a craft brewery of his own. In the course of his research, he learned that Ontario only had one recent distillery startup – Still Waters Distillery in Concord – and saw an opportunity. He was working full-time in the family construction business – sewers and water mains mostly – and at some point while knee-deep in icy water digging out a broken pipe by hand, the brewery dream turned into a distillery. Don dropped in to Still Waters and met one of the founders, Barry Stein, who welcomed him with open arms, and encouraged Don to chase his dream.
