The distillery of the Petrovski family, our emigrants from Canada, filled the first bottles this weekend, part of their series production of grape, quince and pear brandy in Canada. It is safe to say that this is the first family distillery for Macedonian brandy and alcoholic beverages with recipes from the Balkans in North America.

The idea for their own company for farm products originating from North Macedonia was born in 2018 by Petrovski, natives of Kumanovo who have been living and working in St. Catharines, Canada for a long time. Their orchard farm of several acres is located in the fertile region of the Niagara Plateau between Lakes Erie and Ontario near the Great Falls. The distillery is near the Queen Elizabeth Mary Expressway, a highway that leads from Toronto to the Canada-US border crossing not far from Buffalo, New York. In the past decades, many micro wineries, breweries and distilleries have started operating in the region.

After initial difficulties in procuring raw materials due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the several million dollar investment of this hard-working Macedonian family from Canada is about to pay off, as Canada and the United States are countries where domestic, agricultural farm products, especially those labeled "organic", which means certified by the Food and Drug Administration that they were grown without the use of additives or chemical preparations, are especially valued.

- This is our contribution to reducing the monopolies of large companies for alcoholic beverages. We are their competition and we intend to produce top products of the highest quality, said Dushko Petrovski, president of the "Petrovski Family Spirits" distillery in an interview with MIA.

The Niagara Highlands is a region famous for growing apricots and peaches. As in other regions of North America, such as northern Virginia or the Napa Valley in California, winemaking is gaining momentum here in the states of Ontario and New York. The region figures in the top ten or fifteen wine regions of the world.

- I wouldn't say that the grapes are of high quality, Rieslings and other varieties of white grapes are mostly used to make white wines, and that is done by emigrants from the Netherlands and Germany, Petrovski pointed out.

He also discovered that the climate in this part of Canada is abundant with water and sunshine, the fertile land with hot summers and cold winters is good for growing plum, pear or apple. Although not for quality grapes, peppers or tomatoes, as in North Macedonia, which they tried to plant for wholesale sale.

We also spoke with Dushko's father, Jordan Petrovski, who is actually the driving force behind the company, and who pointed out that the Canadian state provides initiatives for the development of agriculture, and this is done with easy credit and access to top technology using "the most sophisticated techniques of agriculture and fruit growing".

The capacity of the distillery is around 40.000 to 50.000 bottles of brandy per year, which will be made primarily from grapes and other fruits such as quince, pear or peach. Apples are currently grown on the farm, but there are more sessions being panned, and this was a requirement for the authorities in Canada to allow them to open their own distillery.

- Grape brandy is made from wine brought from Macedonia, so the wine will be exclusively from Macedonia, said Petrovski.

The orchard currently has 1.600 apple seedlings, and it is planned to plant pears and plums for baking and distillation of pear and plum brandies, which are popular in Serbia, our northern neighbor. The company plans to collect about 120 tons of fruit, from which eight to ten thousand liters of brandy can be produced annually.

- These are not large quantities and the idea is to work as a boutique. We are a craftsman family and we work in the spirit of what we did before, said Petrovski Jr.

The products of the Petrovski distillery are bottled in packaging lines that they rent as needed.

- There are hundreds of small wineries or breweries here, and all of them do not have the opportunity to invest in their own bottling and packaging line, for which up to 70 percent of the production investment has to be paid. There are two or three companies that do this, for a fee they bottle, label and package the drinks of all the small producers. They also come to the manufacturers' locations with mobile lines, in trailers, he said

Petrovski Jr. pointed out that the distribution of brandies will begin when the factory is officially opened in January. They have already received permission to sell to catering establishments and shops.

- Now we start selling in America, because there the process is simpler. For example, we are now preparing our products to be represented at the free-shop at the border crossing between the states of Ontario and New York, where residents of this region, from both countries, will be able to come and enjoy our products, and the placement will also go to others Macedonian communities in the USA and Canada