THE BLENDER’S FOXHEART

King Edward VII loved his wire fox terrier. So much so, he inscribed the dog’s collar with: ‘I am Caesar. I belong to the King.’ When Edward died in 1910, a grieving Caesar marched in the funeral procession behind the King’s casket.

Forty Creek’s master blender Bill Ashburn didn’t mourn when his winemaking career came to its end. Instead, he set off down a new path following no one. He devoted those early years to helping a tiny Canadian fruit spirits distillery grow from a marginally profitable operation into the juggernaut Forty Creek Distillery that Italy’s Campari Group acquired in 2014 for CAD$186 million (£109 million).

It all goes back to the summer of 1954 when Swiss mechanical engineer Otto Rieder barked up the right tree while visiting Canada’s number one tourist attraction, Niagara Falls. Driving down the Niagara Peninsula, Rieder was surprised by the number of orchards. “I. “Seeing peaches came as kind of a shock.”