Tuesday, September 29, 2009

From Farm to Bottle

Did you know that Quebec has a farm-brewery? Neither did I until recently.

Located in Ste-Polycarpe in Montéregie, the Ferme Brasserie Schoune may be the first modern farm-brewery in North America. Founded by immigrants from Belgium, the farm has been growing corn, grain, soybeans, buckwheat and malting barley since 1980. A little over ten years ago, they started brewing their own beer from their farm products. All their beers are unpasteurized and brewed using traditional Belgian methods with only natural ingredients. Almost all of them are award-winning.

The microbrasserie currently offers several year-round beers, as well as a selection of limited edition brews. One, Rur'Ale, is completely made from Quebec ingredients for a 100% local brew. (I believe their hops are from their own farm, but I'm not sure.) Look for them at select grocery stores (mostly Metro), dépanneurs and specialty stores across the province.

2 comments:

Tim Oh said...

Their beer is really good and tasty. I would say they have more beers than listed on the website. They now have the fruity beers such as the typical apricot brews, the peach brews, the strawberry/raspberry brews.

The white is very good, nice and light and refreshing. They do a triple blonde at 8%, which for an 8% brew, is surprisingly easy going.

If you visit, you will have the opportunity to mix'n'match your own case. Costs are less than where I have seen their products in the stores.

We had the opportunity to stop in a few months ago. It is exactly what you would expect from a farm brewery... Warm, friendly, rustic... With the proverbial dog sunbathing on the porch out front.

Amanda said...

Their labels have definitely changed from the ones on their website. I think the product shots on their website are a bit dated. Their newer labels seem to be brown with a coloured band across the middle, like the one on the left of the photo. When I took the photo (at my local Metro grocer, no less), they had about a dozen different varieties on the shelf.

Thanks for the comments on visiting the farm-brewery. Cheers!