A windmill-powered flour business that became the British Empire's largest distillery
Gooderham and Worts
William Gooderham and James Worts started as flour millers in the 1830s before pivoting into distilling, building Gooderham and Worts into the largest distillery in the British Empire by the late 19th century.
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William Gooderham and his brother-in-law James Worts began their business in Toronto in 1832, initially operating a windmill-powered flour mill near the harbour. Distilling whisky from surplus grain started as a secondary business, using leftover product from the milling operation, but the distilling side of the business grew steadily more profitable and eventually became the company's main focus, with the flour milling operation fading into the background over subsequent decades.
The largest distillery in the Empire
By the late 19th century, Gooderham and Worts had grown into the largest distillery in the British Empire, its sprawling Victorian industrial complex near the Don River producing whisky at a scale that made the Gooderham family enormously wealthy and prominent in Toronto civic life; George Gooderham, William's son, later built the landmark Gooderham Building downtown as the company's office headquarters. The distillery continued operating under various ownership through the 20th century before finally closing in 1990, its buildings later preserved and redeveloped as the Distillery District.
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