Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Alex Ganivet-Boileau has been rolling around for over 15 years. He was notably a master brewer at Les Trois Mousquetaires – we owe him, among other things, the famous Baltic Porter Cuvée Spéciale, still and always a reference in the field. But he inevitably returned to lagers, a kind of beer he particularly likes. “Nine times out of 10, what I like is a well-made lager,” he admits. Many experienced brewers also tend to come back to something similar. »
For the guys from Lagerbräu, the click really happened in 2019 when they took part with several brewers from here on a trip to Europe, a real pilgrimage organized in Germany and the Czech Republic by Martin Thibault, says the Coureur des Boire . “We visited small country breweries, we had behind-the-scenes access, it was magical,” recalls the young 38-year-old brewer.
We really got something. We fell in contemplation, in ecstasy, in front of these authentic steps to make beers refined with an obsessive precision.
Alex Ganivet-Boileau
“There, each brewery makes the same style of beer, but each has its own touch, its difference, its know-how and its pride, adds Jasen Gaouette. We said to ourselves that this was what we wanted to do, that it is a culture that we gain from knowing and bringing to life here. »
For Alex Ganivet-Boileau, a mouth-watering artisanal lager is to beer what a good baguette is to a bakery. “We are seeing a rebirth of neighborhood shops where you can find good fresh baguettes, with a crunchy crust and a very soft crumb, illustrates the brewer. In the beer world, we are similarly seeing a revival of lager enthusiasts. The person who has tasted everything tells himself that he wants to return to something simple, but well done. It’s a slow but steady trend. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Lagerbräu, which launched its first lager beer in November 2021, intends to offer a reduced range of beers, its concern being a perfect balance of the recipes offered.
Like the breweries visited in Franconia, Germany, the range of Lagerbräu will remain simple, a pilsner, a lagerbier as well as a seasonal beer – the last in the running was a superb Polotmavé Specialni, an amber lager with a strong character, and we are soon promised a Vycepni worked with a malt from the Czech Republic and an inoculated yeast from that used in a Czech brewery visited by the guys from Lagerbräu. “We will continue to perfect our recipes and at some point, it will taste like us,” says Jasen Gaouette, who also owns two IGA supermarkets in Saint-Césaire and Granby. “Basically, we want to put our stone in the building of the lager in Quebec. If people like what we do, I hope they will also like what other people do. »
Collaborators
For now, the trio behind Lagerbräu brews 5,000 liters of beer per month in the Montreal facilities of the Avant-Garde microbrewery, in addition to occasional collaborative brews — a landbier has just been bottled with the La Chouappe team, in Saint-Félicien, after which we are also promised collaborations with Le Cheval blanc and Le Temps d’une Pinte. “Currently, we are developing the brand, so we might as well brew with friends, people we love,” says Jasen Gaouette.
But it is still in the plans to find a place, we want it to be on the side of a hill, by reproducing the principle of the German kellers, that is to say a natural vault where the beer is stored and near where people gather in the summer to have a drink, on a beautiful terrace.
Jasen Gaouette
“The keller is to Germany what the sugar shack is to Quebec,” says Alex Ganivet-Boileau. There is no menu, the food is brought to the middle of the table, and only one kind of beer is served. For the moment, we have fun, we like what we do, but when we have found the place, we will see what kinds of investments will be considered. One thing is certain, we want it to remain accessible because it echoes the culture we found in Germany, with a superb communal and family spirit. »
Small lexicon
lagerbier
We call Lagerbier the lagers brewed in Franconia, a region in northern Bavaria where this type of beer comes from. These are bottom-fermented beers because the yeasts used act at the bottom of the vat, at low temperature, between 5 and 10 degrees. Lagers, with a clean and lively taste, must also mature for several weeks before being ready – the name of the beer comes precisely from the German word langernwhich means “to store”.
pilsner
It is actually a kind of lager developed in the 19th century.and century in Bohemia, in western Czechia. It is pale and limpid, because filtered. Its light and floral taste comes from the use of Saaz hops. It has become over the years the most popular type of beer in the world.
Polotmavy
Amber lager of Czech origin, it is the cousin of the dry and hoppy Dunkels brewed in Franconia. It offers frank malty notes of toast, caramel and spices, the finish is supported by a more marked bitterness than for pilsners.