Local alcohol lovers are familiar with Menaud, this Charlevoix distillery that works with local ingredients to produce its vodkas, gins, beers and other fine alcohols, including these rhubarb and haskap liqueurs that come in two shades of pink. . The distillery’s portfolio has grown since its creation six years ago and now includes… spices!
The philosophy
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Menaud’s liquor bottles are easily recognizable.
Already, the distillery chooses its basic ingredients as often as possible on its territory. This was at the heart of the project from the start: cereals from Isle-aux-Coudres, fruits, herbs and honey from Charlevoix.
Menaud also wants to use “all” its ingredients, even those that are no longer used. “We always try to see what our waste is,” explains Charles Boissonneau, one of the founders of Menaud. Essentially, there are aromatics and spent grains. »
For the spent grain, recycling is not easy for the moment, because it is a wet material, therefore to be consumed or reconditioned quickly. Currently, 25% of these cereal residues manage to become food for livestock on neighboring farms, the rest is composted. Menaud’s project is to dry the spent grain in order to expand its processing possibilities.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Menaud distillery, in Charlevoix
The product
There are still the aromatics.
In this desire toupcyclingto reuse by revaluing what would otherwise be lost, the distillery has developed a blend of spices made from the aromatics used to make its gins, the herbs and spices being useless after infusion.
In fact, some of the aromatics can be recovered.
Charles Boissonneau explains that those who give the flavor to the alcohol during the maceration process will have already given the best of themselves. However, in the distillation process there is also a steam bath which gives flavor to the alcohol and allows the aromatics to retain their essential oils. These are the ones who have found a second life.
After testing with local chefs, Menaud marketed a product in partnership with Kanel, a small company that makes salts and seasonings.
“We played with the spices, we did some tests and we found that it was perfect for making a brine”, explains Kim Wiseman, founder of Kanel, who already knew – and loved – the spirits of Menaud.
Kanel was founded in 2018, has four employees and offers around thirty products. She was already collaborating with a roaster in Kanesatake for a rubbing spice blend (rub) caramelized in coffee intended for meat. Menaud’s call fell perfectly into this desire for partnership and the upgrading of existing ingredients.
“It’s special to be able to reuse a food product and adapt it,” explains Kim Wiseman, who receives the dry spices. The mixture is suitable, because a brine requires more salt and sugar.
The Kanel x Menaud botanical brine is intended for poultry and essentially uses the same blend as that used for the classic gin from the Charlevois distillery: barberry, wild caraway, glasswort, balsam poplar… Quebec boreal ingredients that also come from different regions.
“It’s incredible, it tastes like gin,” confides Charles Boissonneau, who obviously did the taste test – and who advises massaging the poultry in addition to brining it with the herbs!
The future
Menaud will not stop there. The aromatics of his Maria gin should find the same end and will soon be offered as a gravlax mix, also with Kanel.
This collaboration, explains Kim Wiseman, allows Kanel customers to discover Menaud and vice versa.
Which will leave Menaud with this beautiful problem: the list of secret spices in his gin Maria will inevitably have to be revealed if they are recycled… What we do know, however, for the moment, is that all the ingredients come from a radius of 50 km from the Clermont distillery!
Menaud now has about fifteen employees and produces 3000 hectoliters per year, all spirits combined. And now, spices…