I was just down there and I'm feeling very optimistic about this one. What these photos don't show is the fact that the southern edge creates a wonderful pedestrian mall at an angle to Mill Street, connecting down to the central plaza. The podium is just the right height. If it had been a 12-storey slab, it would have been oppressive. The point tower really doesn't intrude at all: most of the time in the Distillery, you're so close into the buildings that there's not much point staring too far up.
I was really anti-Distillery for many of the same reasons as UD above (except it reminded me of an overpriced Muskoka main drag rather than Stratford). I don't know exactly what's changed in my little tarry heart - spring in the air, perhaps? - but last night I realised: hey, it's not God's gift to Toronto's urbanity, it's a tourist district, and bully for it. They're building a whole new neighborhood next door; let's get stressed about that instead and demand that it be affordable and down-to-earth. The Distillery, meanwhile, is a tourist attraction, and a neato one too. Nothing wrong with that.
ADDITION: Oh, can someone spell out the difference between Pure and Clear Spirits? And what then is the name (and thread?) of the Clewes twins that were supposed to go along the railway berm? Or am I hopelessly confused?