Aberfoyle Distillery Operations Discontinued Wednesday September 13th 1933. One of the largest stills ever uncovered in Ontario, capable of producing 100 gallons of alcohol daily, was seized yesterday when the R.C.M.P. carried out a raid on the barn of Herbert Hewer at Aberfoyle, Ontario. Part of the cow stable was blocked off in a vast underground mash manufacturing plant, police said, and the still was concealed beneath a haystack. At the time of the raid, four huge wooden vats were bubbling over with sugar mash ready for distillation. Up in the haymow, a big water tank provided pressure for the plant. As the mounties, Sergeant Frank Samson, and Constables Barr, Bailey, and Warner climbed through a trapdoor and down an improvised ladder, a man who was at work kindling a fire in the boiler, fled and leaping a creek, disappeared into a dense swamp. Constable Bailey gave chase but failed to head him off. The officers quickly halted the distilling process by pulling the bungs from each of the 1,000-gallon vats. The effervescent suds roared down an open well in the cement floor, emptying through a pipe into the local creek. The livestock, ducks, cows, and pigs, watering in that same creek unknowingly enjoyed a free round of drinks and, as reported by the R.C.M.P. officers, their subsequent behaviour gave clear evidence of the potency of the mash. Sergeant Samson removed 300 gallons of pure over-proof alcohol to R.C.M.P. headquarters here. Arrangements have been made to begin the dismantling of the intricate equipment.

from the Toronto Star newspaper.