They were two, they are now 70: producers of gin and spirits have sprouted like mushrooms in Quebec for 10 years. Most of them, however, do not distill profits or products from here. How is it possible?
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Gin St. Laurent. Romeo’s gin. The KM12. Crazy Herbs. The Ungava. The Radune. Cirka. Le Menaud.
All Quebec bottles, right? Not so much, in fact, even if they are all marked with a fleur-de-lys and come from the foot of Monts-Valin or from the edge of the river.
It’s Marcel Mailhot who tells you. The organic farmer from Saint-Jacques, in Lanaudière, has been transforming his grain into neutral alcohol (GNS) since 2019.
“Hardly anyone does that, from grain to bottle,” says the proud father of the Le Grand Dérangement distillery, who prides himself on making a “real” local product.
Marcel Mailhot
photo taken from the Facebook page of the Grand Dérangement
Menaud, in Charlevoix, or La Société Secrète, near Percé, are 2 of the 7 other distilleries out of 70 that do so as well.
This “made in Quebec” GNS is worth four times the price of the one its competitors buy in Ontario, estimates the 62-year-old farmer, who “has been running at a loss for three years”.
When he goes to the SAQ, he sometimes gets hives. “It’s big nonsense. It’s Ontario alcohol, it has nothing to do with Quebec,” he exclaims about the many fleur-de-lis bottles.
bad debate
Nicolas Duvernois does not entirely agree. “So there is no Quebec microbrewery beer since the hops don’t come from here?” asks the creator of the first vodka made in Quebec, Pur Vodka, whose slogan is “From ambition to the bottle”.
Well known to the public, particularly for his role as a dragon-investor, the entrepreneur behind Duvernois Esprits Créatifs is “the biggest of the little ones” in the industry. Its business model is unique and its sales volume is significant.
Nicolas Duvernois
photo taken from Duvernois’ Facebook page
His Romeo’s vodka and gins are blended at his lifelong partner, Michel Jodoin, in Rougemont. Its “world’s best” GNS comes from Greenfield Global in Chatham, Ontario.
“I am a Quebec alcohol producer. My job is to develop products that I think the customer wants at the best possible price and taste,” chants the businessman.
He is fed up with this debate about “micro-details of production” and would rather talk about the fate of the alcohol industry in Quebec, which is “so in trouble”.
Just last week, he says, three local microdistilleries approached him about buying them. Maybe 200 different gins is too much for Quebec, he argues, and some innovation would be in order.
Everyone is mixed up
Rare are the microdistilleries that roll on gold, indeed. The Distillerie du St. Laurent, in Rimouski, was placed under the protection of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in mid-March, with more than $13 million in debt.
Profits are rare in the industry, all the more reason to stand out by focusing on 100% local production, believes Denis Guindon, of the Côte des Saints distillery in Mirabel.
Like Marcel Mailhot, he produces grain by the bottle. “It’s important, because alcohol accounts for 95% of the bottle,” he insists, comparing the GNS to a steak and the herbs to salt.
He has been campaigning for years for the manufacturing process of local GNS to be certified.
“For the moment, a cat would not recognize her young there, everyone is in the same package. But we see a window of opportunity with Bill 17, ”says the one who is about to launch his whiskey, after four years of preparation.
Whiskey from the Côte des Saints distillery has been coming to life in cherry and bourbon barrels for four years.
photo provided by Denis Guindon
Filed in May by the CAQ government, Bill 17 “is not perfect”, but has the advantage of favoring producers who use local cereals.
“It’s a welcome boost for those like us who contribute to the Quebec economy by buying fertilizers, grain and by having our fields cultivated by farmers,” rejoices Denis Guindon.
From the fleur-de-lys “Origine Québec” which “mixes everyone” will soon be born, he hopes, a new, more relevant, rewarding term on the shelves of the SAQ.