Our Distillery
Welcome to Almonte, the friendly town. Almonte is a small 19th century mill town situated along the scenic Canadian Mississippi river, a short drive from Ottawa. Its limestone mill buildings have been lovingly preserved and now house an eclectic mix of boutiques, craft shops and galleries. Almonte has become a foodie destination of note. Surrounding the Dairy Distillery, you’ll find award winning food and drink makers including Equator Coffee, Hummingbird Chocolate, Crooked Mile brewery and HFC donuts. Come enjoy the charm of Almonte and return home with fine food and spirits.
Dairy Distillery has built a state-of-the-art micro distillery in Almonte. A reflection of our dairy heritage and modern outlook, our distillery building is a perfect union of agricultural and contemporary design. A 30-foot pitched roof supported by gorgeous Douglas Fir timbers creates a stunning workspace for the crafting of fine spirits. Our German made copper Christian Carl stills are proudly displayed in our all glass front facade. Consistent with environmental mission, the distillery uses the latest conservation technology including radiant floors, heat exchangers and water reclamation.
Our Team
Omid McDonald
Founder/CEO
Omid McDonald. Founder/CEO. Omid is an eclectic serial entrepreneur whose past startups range from medical devices to software for DJs. He became enamored with distilling while visiting a micro-distillery in Charleston. It wasn’t long until Omid started making moonshine in his basement with a copper pot still he hand built.
Neal McCarten
Co-Founder/CMO
Neal spent his childhood summers on his family's dairy farm where he learned a deep appreciation for the hard work and dedication it takes to be a farmer. He's incredibly excited to work on Vodkow, and to showcase the innovation and sustainable future that the agricultural community is working towards everyday.
Anthony Seed
Managing Director
After a long stint as the Eastern Ontario sales rep for Pernod Ricard, Anthony knows a thing or two about spirits. Anthony is also a health and fitness expert and helps keep the Dairy Distillery team in shape (when he's not sneaking us candy). Aside from selling spirits and pumping iron, Anthony keeps busy with his two children and a steady stream of dad jokes.David Geros
CSO
After completing his Masters in Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Dave worked at Carlsberg in Northampton in the UK. He returned home to take a position at Iogen where he worked developing cellulosic ethanol production for the 15-years. When not distilling, Dave enjoys playing soccer with his two children.
Kate Goffin
Plant Manager
Kate joined Dairy Distillery on the bottling line and has worked her way up to leading the distilling and production teams. Her love of spirits brought her to here, and her hard work and dedication have been an invaluable addition to our team.
Randy Lee
Event Director
Randy joined the team to help us get our event game on point, and has ended up leading our direct sales team, running more than 800 event days in 2024 alone! He keeps the Vodkow flowing from London to Timmins and beyond. When he gets some time off he's usually driving to another hockey tourney, or occasionally indulging in a bottle of fine wine and a fantastic meal.
Friends
University of Ottawa
We’ve partnered with Dr. Alexandre Poulain, Professor of Biology at the University of Ottawa, one of Canada’s premiere research institutions. Dr. Poulain and his undergraduate student Jessica Gaudet have been uncovering the secrets of fermenting milk permeate. They have also been working to decode the chemical composition of a great spirit.
Tree Canada
Tree Canada restores forests helps wildlife and also helps fight climate change. Their reforestation and carbon offsetting efforts help make cleaner soil, cleaner waterways and shorelines and help sequester millions of tons of carbon pollution. In an effort to make Vodkow carbon neutral, we selected Tree Canada's "Grow Clean Air" program that plans trees guaranteed to sequester carbon for 30 years.
Dairy Farmers of Ontario
The Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) awarded us a Business Product and Development Program (BPDP) grant to assist with our marketing and bottle design. The DFO is the marketing group for Ontario’s Dairy farmers. The BPDP helps innovative new milk products come to market.
