presents

The origins
of my spirit

• Written by Silvia Mazzocco
• Illustrated by Alice Wang

TThis is my story. It’s the story of how I was born and who created me. It’s a story rich in spirit, much different from the others – I promise you – but you’ll see that later.

It’s a story about my origins, about a starting point, a genesis, being proud of the care and passion you put into developing something destined to last forever, surely beyond us.

I won’t hide the fact that I’m telling you this story with a touch of pride. But let’s start from what I am and where I come from. Am I a principle or an inspiration? Do I breathe, am I alive? If you try to seize me, I’ll slip from your hands, but I’m not a ghost for sure… although you can trust my spirit—and the one that created this story. Do I have a soul or am I a force that animates? And what am I like? Tough and robust, or soft and smooth? Am I volatile or earthly? Thick or liquid?

Well, to help you understand, I’ll tell you that all these features actually belong to me, all modesty aside. They live within myself, all together, perfectly mixed in a surprising way by an expert with a patient and masterful hand. Yes, I know, you’re starting to get curious. Well, I’ll give you another clue.

a true heaven on earth, in which you can feel the boundless atmosphere of freedom, Ontario. A land that offers one of the most beautiful natural spectacles in the world: the huge and powerful Niagara Falls.

Everyone calls me Forty. Forty Creek to be precise. Because Forty Mile Creek – named after its distance from the falls – is the place where I was born and raised.

Believe me, I’ve really grown over the years but I owe all my luck and success to the man who created me and my taste, my resolute character as well as my warmth. To the man who put me out there and made me famous. If you really want to know me better, we have to talk about him, Bill Ashburn, a man who owns a lot of spirit. So much so that he succeeded in creating mine, putting together all his best qualities. A man strongly connected to traditions, with roots firmly placed in his home, our home in Grimsby, but able to look far away, across the ocean, and pave the way to different taste experiences, always writing new chapters in my story. Once, I wasn’t really very famous but I had been created a long time before. I could hear him praise my best qualities with his friends, planning a future rich in achievements for me, even with several prizes, including the Canadian Whisky Awards. Bill was really determined and never gave up before fulfilling his dreams.

There’s no need to say that those awards that he had foreseen actually came to me. His enthusiasm was infectious. I have never heard anyone bad mouthing him, not even among his team. On Saturdays, in the afternoons, I loved to sneak around the barrels in the distillery, to watch him work or listen to people talking about him: I’ve always felt and seen a truly authentic passion for anything that he did, for every taste that he created.

I loved to watch him work and

there was an essence aged for 25 years, a time capsule that smelled of the renowned Niagara peaches, a mysterious bottle reading “Bartender’s Blend,” marked with a wax pencil, and several enticing single-malt barrels. How many times have I watched, admired him as he lit up with pride while experimenting with both new and ancient methods, almost like a chemist, without really understanding what his secrets are. Creativity? Experience? Love? Superstition? It’s funny, but when he created me, no-one else was present in the building and, if you look around, in his distillery you won’t see stairs or mirrors: only whisky barrels, so many whisky barrels, wall to wall. Yes, of course, I know, now you’ve figured it out: my spirit, which you’ll enjoy at every sip, and Forty Creek are the same thing.