THUNDER BAY -- An old ambulance base on the corner of Arthur and Selkirk streets is getting a complete makeover and it's good news for Thunder Bay's cocktail enthusiasts.
The space will be home to a new retail store specializing in bitters, and everything needed to become a specialty cocktail bartender right in your own home.
“Bitters are to drinks what salt and pepper is to your food,” said Frape and Sons Boutique Bitters head distiller Justin Frape.
“They are a seasoning and they reduce sweetness, so often you have a drink with a high degree of sweetness in it and you would add bitters to introduce balance to the sweetness as well as to introduce flavour.”
After outgrowing the previous space, which was just for manufacturing, Frape decided it was time to expand and take a stab at retail.
“It’s actually surprising at how many cocktail enthusiasts there are in Thunder Bay and we’ve also benefited from supporting roles in a lot of major restaurants and bars in the city as well,” Frape said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to have some direct conversations with our customers.”
The retail business is being set up at a former ambulance base on Selkirk Street, currently running with just a few employees Frape said he hopes to create seasonal jobs over the summer months.
“We are currently operating with five individuals plus a finance person working part time,” he said.
Soon the space will be filled with an array of bitter flavours all from ingredients sourced locally in Ontario.
The process is all done here in house from the first step of distilling to having the Bitters bottled and labeled.
Although Bitters do contain anywhere from 35 to 45 per cent alcohol. The alcohol in the Bitters is a preservative and considered a non-beverage and that’s the difference that allows retailers to sell it outside of the LCBO.
The retail store is set to open sometime in May.
(TBT News)
