By Thomas Smith

George Kaplun, founder of Denna Lake Spirits has been in the service industry for his entire adult career. After leaving Ukraine, Kaplun and his family stayed in Israel before they were allowed to move to Canada.

Graduating high school in 2002, Laplum began serving at high end restaurants in Toronto. Soon after, Kaplun began an apprenticeship at the Banff Centre in Alberta.

Kaplun even took his learning of mixology abroad to Australia, New Zealand and Scotland.

In 2012, Kaplun wound up on King Street in Toronto working for the legendary Charles Khabouth. Working at one of Khabouth’s saloons at King and Spadina, his knowledge of spirits flourished in the downtown core, diving deep into aged cocktails and the importance of barrel aging.

“It was time to move on and I wanted to know how to distill,” said Kaplun.

After 20 years of working behind the bar, Kaplun needed to get his hands dirty making his own craft spirits. Graduating from college in Kelowna, Kaplun moved back to Banff to work at Park Distillery.

Using Nickel Nine Distillery’s facilities in the Junction, Kaplun distills his own grain spirits. Using the neutral grain spirits, Kaplun infuses them with things like raisins and dried apricots to make their raisin and apricot gin, strawberries for their strawberry vodka, and horseradish for their horseradish vodka.

Only Canadian grain is used for the mash when distilling and when possible, fresh ingredients are purchased from Ontario farms.

When you purchase a flavour-infused alcohol from the LCBO, most of the time it is a clear spirit. Kaplun feels that infused alcohols should reflect their contents. For example, blueberry vodkas should appear blue.

With the recent increase in alcohol prices and restrictions for imports of American goods, Kahlua is no longer for sale at the LCBO. While Kahlua is owned by a French company and operates out of Mexico, the supply chain for the Canadian market uses an American-based shipping facility.

To fill this void, Kaplun is working on creating a coffee liquor for the Ontario market.

Coventry gin, his signature spirit, was initially made due to Kaplun’s distaste for gins. Seeking out creating a gin for his own palette, Coventry Gin was the first liquor he created.

“I made a gin for myself. I like to drink my stuff straight so I put in fresh lemongrass and ginger,” said Kaplun. “No Christmas tree taste.”

The name Coventry was thought of after Kaplun observed rich men aggressively harass women at bars. He wanted the name to evoke a sense of high class and for women to be able to enjoy the gin, ostracized away from aggressive men.

For Hook, Line and Sinker in Haliburton, Kaplun has created a strawberry vodka to serve at their bar and blueberry vodka for the former Rockcliffe Moore Falls.

Coventry rhubarb gin was created as an homage to his upbringings.

“Growing up in Ukraine you eat it like cucumber,” recalled Kaplun.

His mother’s favourite is his apricot and raisin gin, says Kaplun. She says that the flavour is close to ice wine.

When starting his craft spirit business, investors pulled out. His mother wanted to help her son with the business and quickly became his right hand man. Based in Minden, his mother assists Kaplun with marketing, product design, and other operations.

As long-time cottagers for the past ten years, Kaplun knew at Denna Lake Spirits’ inception that he wanted the name to pay homage to the place he loves the most, the family’s cottage on Denna Lake Road.

“We wanted to be the first spirits maker in the Haliburton area,” said Kaplun.

While splitting his time between his fulltime career in Toronto, Kaplun frequently visits the county to sell his goods, network, and collaborate with establishments in the county for them to serve his spirits.

“When the time comes, I hope to pay myself a salary from this,” said Kaplun. “That is my goal.”

For now, Kaplun has found his niche in the Haliburton County area. You can already taste Denna Lake Spirits’ products at several bars in the county.

He plans on keeping business local for now, with some select areas in his home base of Toronto. His products are made with Haliburton County in mind, for the people that have supported him the most.

“The people are great here,” said Kaplun. “It is a very relaxing environment.”