the distilling works themselves burnt in january 1838, and an interruption of 10 months ensued whilst it was reconstructed. while the old brewery had housed seven 3,500-gallon kettles, the eleven 25,000-gallon containers were placed in the newbuild, which grossed over the next dozen years more than £400,000. in 1844, the brothers purchased from the receivers the handyside distillery, which was located in the vicinity of their own. the property included cow barns and a piggery, and thus it was that the molsons engaged in cattle finishing trade, for the which they used their spent grain. at this juncture, the firm employed roughly 75 men, and needed to purchase its grain supplies in kingston, picton, port hope and other ports in canada west.