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Orillia woman, Toronto's only female distiller, brews up interesting presentation

Martha Lowry talks about unique job at Canadian Federation of University Women meeting
2018-03-09 CFUW Feb.jpg
Martha Lowry, Toronto’s only female distiller, regaled the Canadian Federation of University Women at its recent meeting. From left, Donnajean Jefferies, Cathy Campbell, Lowry and Margaret Hewgill. Supplied photo

NEWS RELEASE
CANADIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN
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The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Orillia was pleased to welcome Martha Lowry as the guest speaker at their meeting on Feb. 27 at the Orillia Museum of Art and History.

Lowry, who was raised in Orillia, is the head distiller at Mill Street Brewery and cider maker for Brickworks Cider House – and the only female distiller in Toronto.

Lowry studied at Guelph and Dalhousie Universities and has a background in horticulture with a focus on fruit crops and viticulture from the University of Guelph. Because of her passion for food and beverage, she became interested in cider and spirits and her scientific background led her to the production side of things.

After working in different areas of interest, a chance meeting with Kaitlin Vandenbosch at a networking event for women in the beverage business led her to a career at Mill Street Brewery. At the time, Kaitlin Vandenbosch was in charge of the small distillery at Mill Street. Soon after the two met, Lowry was trained by Vandenbosch at the brewery. Eighteen months later, Lowry took over the distillation program at Mill Street as the Head Distiller at the Mill Street Brewery. Mill Street Brewery is the largest craft brewery in Canada.

Lowry released Mill Street’s first gin and whisky this past year to critical acclaim. She is currently in the process of getting the cider house up and running and can’t wait to share the new products with the world. Lowry loves the creativity her job provides. Small batches allow Lowry to explore mixing different fruits, spices, yeasts, and malts in order to create the unique flavour big breweries miss.

Visitors to Main and Broadview, in Toronto, can watch the fruit being prepared, giving Lowry the opportunity to talk with visitors and answer questions. During the evening, Lowry showed several slides on the processing of different spirits including gin, whisky and ciders.

Currently, Lowry is working with apples to create a new cider. Her professor from the University of Guelph is assisting by acquiring the specific apples that she needs. As the apple is not native to Canada she can only bring in small amounts into the country. Small batches are good for small operations.

Lowry compares making her cider to making wine in that she gets back to agriculture. You need to know where your apples are coming from, how they are grown, and what soil they grew in. A slide presentation demonstrated the procedure for making apple cider. From grinding the apples and letting them sit overnight to the apple press, collecting the juice and putting them in the fermenters. Controlling the temperature results in specific flavours. Hot temperatures will result in a spice flavour. Cold temperatures will be more like a lager and warm will be fruity or floral. Two weeks of aging will produce a bright and crisp cider. Aged for six months it will produce a creamy and smooth apple cider.

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