The Ward Bar at Spring Mill Distillery

A distillery is a workplace before it is anything else — stills, barrels, a production floor measured in litres and time. The Ward Bar is where John Sleeman & Sons opens that workplace to the public, a cocktail lounge and whisky bar built into the restored Allan's Mill on the banks of the Speed River in Guelph. The drinks list is the distillery's own output, poured a few steps from where it is made, which is a different proposition from a bar that simply stocks what it likes.

The cocktails run on house spirits. The Mill Mule is the easiest first order — John Sleeman & Sons vodka and the Ward Series ginger and lime liqueur, lengthened with lime, mint, and soda. The Ward Caesar turns the Canadian standby into a distillery signature, built on the house vodka with Worcestershire, pickle juice, olive brine, and Clamato, with a smoked option for anyone who wants more edge. Smoke & Mirrors is the one to notice when whisky is the mood: single malt with elderflower, honey, lemon, and hot pepper bitters in a darker, more aromatic glass. Around them sit the Haskap Cosmo, the Espresso Martini, the Traditionally Fashioned, and The Dellemere, alongside house wine, beer, cider, and a non-alcoholic shelf that runs from The Driver to a Cranberry Mule.