Gin Mill

 

Gin Mill is one of Guelph‘s newest restaurants located downtown at 107 Wyndham St N. Gin Mill serves lunches and dinners daily. They pride themselves on supporting local distilleries and breweries. One of the really cool things about Gin Mill is that they have a speakeasy, and it happens nightly from Thursday to Saturday. Let’s go inside and meet Brandon, one of the four brothers that own this great place.

Q: Brandon, I’d just like to thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I understand this isn’t your first restaurant & that there is a Gin Mill restaurant in Toronto. What possessed you to open one in Guelph?

[Brandon] We’re actually from Guelph. We opened the first one in Toronto. I was there for about 17 years working in restaurants.

[Mary] Wow

[Brandon] We opened Gin Mill Toronto about a year and a half ago, and Guelph’s a great city for that kind of stuff, and we felt there was a real need for from-scratch cocktails here. So it made sense for us to do a Gin Mill here.

Q2:  Really cool. So it’s four brothers that actually own it?

[Brandon] That’s right, yeah. So it’s the four of us who started, well, it was two of us who started Gin Mill Toronto.

[Mary] Okay.

[Brandon] My brother, Josh, and I.

[Mary] Yeah.

[Brandon] And then we brought the other two brothers on ’cause they were actually still here in Guelph. So when we came back to Guelph we brought the two of them on. That’s Spencer and Mackenzie.

[Mary] You must get along well as brothers then.

[Brandon] Well, yeah, of course.

[Mary] Most of the time.

[Brandon]  Most of the time, right?

[Mary]  Yeah, yeah. So here we are sitting in this speakeasy. I’m really curious what happens late at night down here?

[Brandon] So the speakeasy’s open Thursday, Friday, Saturday 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.  Only late-night stuff, it’s cocktails, it’s craft beer and it’s kind of a reduced snack menu down here.

[Mary] Oh, wonderful.

[Brandon] But going forward we’re doing a lot of live music down here and burlesque.

[Mary] Burlesque?

[Brandon] Yeah, we even had some guest bartenders in too. Some guest mixologist to bring us their own signature cocktails.

Q3:  I want some insider information from you. So can you tell me what your perfect or your ideal meal would be from appetizer to dessert and of course, beverage?

[Brandon] Yeah, no question about it. So you’re definitely going to start with the fish tacos. Fish tacos have been a massive hit. People are big fans. After that, you’re probably moving to our in-house ground burgers. You can get it as low as medium rare because we do all the butchering everything in house. For dessert, you’re going to have a red wine soaked cherry brownie.

[Mary] Mmm. It sounds deadly.

[Brandon]  Yeah, yeah. And the best way to compliment that whole thing is with a gin and tonic flight. So four Ontario gins, our house-made tonic, and each one’s paired with a different garnish, kind of accentuate the flavor profile of the individual gin.

[Mary] Wow, better take a taxi or Uber here.

[Brandon]  And then down to the speakeasy of course.

[Mary] Yeah, after, for sure. Well, Brandon, I really want to thank you for taking some time to tell me all about Gin Mill and all the wonderful things that you have here, and I want to say to you guys you’ve got to come in and check it out. It looks fantastic!