A team from George Brown College partnered with local craft gin distillery Reid’s to create an award-winning spirit made from waste generated by the mixology course.Jennifer Roberts
Every semester, George Brown College’s mixology class – which teaches students how to prepare and develop cocktail recipes – generates excess citrus waste from juice and garnishes. And because the Toronto-based college has identified sustainability as part of its strategic vision, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management took matters into their own hands.
The plan? Use 100 pounds of food scraps from the mixology course to create a small-batch liqueur. Tammy Vaillancourt, professor and program co-ordinator at George Brown College, says that once they got internal funding and approval, “reaching out to Reid’s [Distillery] was an obvious choice.” Not only has the family-owned and operated craft gin distillery been a long-time partner of the college, they are also a local business that actively champions sustainability.
Before George Brown even approached Reid’s, they were already reusing citrus and implementing many sustainability practices into their business, like foraging for botanicals and offering a bottle recycling program at the distillery.
“They were already speaking our language when talking about ‘Hey, we’re finding some waste with our citrus and we would love to find ways to repurpose that,’” says Calvin Reid, distiller and one of the owner/operators. “And I’m like, ‘That’s incredible, you know, we are already kind of very much doing that.’”
And so, Citronino was born. The product is a cross between a flavoured vodka and a liqueur, perfect for cocktails or sipping on its own.
As for the name? “Well, there’s a limoncello and that’s kind of the vibe that we’re going for,” Reid recalls. “Do we do a citruscello? And Doris [Miculan-Bradley] right away was like ‘Oh like citronino,’ like a little baby. Once she came up with that, it was easy to rally around.”
The entire process took around 18 months and involved freezing the waste, then thawing it, and carefully separating the juice, pith, peel, and pulp, followed by research and development, label design, distilling, proofing and sweetening, hand bottling, labelling, wax dipping, marketing, cocktail development and more. Over 250 students and faculty were involved in various stages of the process, including 10 paid students who collectively worked 200 hours throughout the project.
And while last year they made 210 bottles, Citronino was only available at George Brown: in the mixology classroom and at the campus restaurant. Plus, some were sent to award competitions.
It turned out to be a winning idea – the team earned silver at an international spirits competition in New York.
The 2025 version will mark its first public release at Reid’s Distillery later this year.
“We’re discussing some different formats,” says Reid. “In addition to 750 millilitre bottles, which is quite standard, we also have a bunch of 50 millilitre bottles for those who are curious, but not looking to dive in with a full bottle purchase.” There has been talk of using it in a premade cocktail, too. And while diverting waste could be seen as the main sustainability outcome of the project, Vaillancourt says the hands-on approach is helping build the green leaders of tomorrow.
“You’re really getting students involved and having them understand when you move into industry and you graduate, what are innovative ways that you can apply sustainability practices?”
