Bradford brothers and third-generation Holland Marsh farmers, Peter, Giovanni and Domenic Riga are the producers of a new vodka product made from carrots, called Sight Vodka by Farmhouse Spirits, and they have just upped their production to include coveted hand sanitizer products to help in the fight against COVID-19.
Farmhouse Spirits recently teamed up with Yonghurst Distillery to not only increase production of both their spirit and hand sanitizer products. To date, they have been able to produce 7,000 litres of hand sanitizer. Farmhouse Spirits have been prioritizing their hand sanitizer production to local grocers as well as some to the Peel Regional Police.
"We've diverted most of production to sanitizer," explained John Rocco, product manager for Farmhouse Spirits. "Obviously there is a large community need for it but once that stabilizes we will continue to have hand sanitizer products and ramp up spirit production."
The Riga Farm, located on Simcoe Road in the Marsh sits on 300 acres of land, and has been in business since 1993, growing over 20 food products, including carrots.
The idea to start producing vodka came about after a discussion in 2018 between youngest brother Peter and his Ivey Business School classmates, John Rocco and Jennifer Quick. The three were discussing what they could do with the farm's unused carrot crop.
"Twisted carrots, forked, pretty much anything that is not perfectly straight" are deemed unusable and go to waste. "Food banks can only take so many carrots," explained Rocco, which leaves the Riga farm with one-two million pounds of unused carrots a year.
That's where the idea for a carrot vodka came up.
“We hired someone to do a proof of concept of vodka for us and it worked," said Rocco.
"Sight is a play on words with carrots helping eyesight," said Rocco. "Spirits with a vision is our motto. Sustainability, diverting food waste and creating a premium product."
The company prides itself on the craftsmanship of their product, using locally grown ingredients. "Unlike a lot of other small distilleries who purchase pre-made alcohol in a raw form, ours is all made out of locally grown ingredients. We don’t cut corners and produce a product that is manufactured elsewhere," explained Rocco.
The distillery which is located on Simcoe Road in the Marsh is hoping to become a real destination tourist hot spot (once life goes back to some sort of normal).
"We think it can be a real destination to learn about and taste product," explained Rocco. "We wanted to do something for the community of Bradford."
Their spirit product is available at local restaurant Don Cherry's and at Marcello's, a restaurant in Vaughan. Later this spring, they plan to be in LCBO stores and also open their online bottle shop for customers' orders. Until then, the distillery is taking individual orders for the beverage product by email.
"We’ve been slowly trying to get it out there, get feedback from people," explained Rocco. So far he said the feedback has been positive.
He noted there is a slight flavour to it, but doesn't taste like carrots.
"We're really happy with it," he said. "People are liking it because it’s a little bit different, it’s for a discerning palette, and has a bit of earthiness to it."It goes beautifully when paired with an acid like lemon juice or a Moscow mule. The natural characteristic of the roots and carrot blends itself really well."
In the summer, Farmhouse Spirits is planning to release their second alcoholic beverage, Sight Gin, made with fresh, local botanicals, infused with rhubarb and lavender, also harvested from the Riga farm.
To learn more about the company and product, visit their website here or follow them on Instagram @farmhouse_spirits.
