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Kris Sustrik is pretty confident in his abilities as a distiller. Hansen Distillery, which he owns with his wife Shayna, is one of Edmonton’s first distilleries, opened in 2016 on the west end, and the city’s first maker of whisky. Sustrik even used his skills as a welder to assemble his stills.
What’s more, all that experience is rooted in history. “We come from a moonshine family,” says Sustrik. For them, distilling is a tradition reaching back more than a century.
But when it came to making a plant-based cream liqueur, Sustrik wasn’t sure where to start. Dairy he’d figured out, stacking the Hansen lineup with combinations that now include saskatoons, variations on chocolate, even mini doughnuts. As it turns out, though, milk isn’t interchangeable with alternatives designed for those with allergies or preferences.
Four years ago, motivated to meet the need for anyone looking to enjoy a silky-smooth beverage over ice or add a little kick to that special-occasion coffee, Sustrik decided to start experimenting. Then he stopped.
“We attempted it a couple times ourselves,” says Sustrik. But he couldn’t match the quality of other Hansen products. “I said, ‘No way. I’m not a scientist. I have no clue how this is going to happen.’”
But Shayna knew of people who did.
The couple reached out to product development experts at NAIT’s Applied Research Centre for Culinary Innovation for help with what they envisioned as a uniquely Canadian, and even nostalgic, creation.
Their vodka-based liqueur would be flavoured with oat milk, they decided, derived from local crops. One reason for going with the grain was to make the drink safe for those with nut allergies. But the other was simply to evoke the comforting taste and aroma of the oatmeal Sustrik remembered growing up with, flavoured with brown sugar and maple syrup.
Read the rest of Scott Messenger’s story in techlifetoday to find out how food scientist Chris Song helped Hansen Distillery come up with a workable recipe.
Learn how NAIT Applied Research can bring your culinary ideas from concept to creation