Artisan breweries are now commonplace in Quebec. But when this type of business brews not only hops, but grows it, cultivates its garden and puts on its menu the vegetables of this one as well as many local products, we simply want to go through Stoneham and take place at La Souche.
Located in the United Townships of Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, 25 km north of Quebec, near Route 175 leading to the Saguenay, La Souche is in its second summer. Little sister of the brewery of the same name located since 2012 in the Limoilou district of Quebec, La Souche Stoneham neighboring a hop, generous gardens and golf Stoneham. At sunset, on the terrace, the place is bucolic.
With their knowledge of biology, the three owners, Antoine Bernatchez, Olivier Giguère and Patrick Champagne, decided to organize a vertical growing space to allow hops to grow. By the end of September, this first harvest should allow to see land in the brewery tanks 4 types of hops: the waterfall, the centennial, the nugget and the willamette.
To date, the 4,200 and 7,000 liter tanks produce eight different beers including Limoilou Beach, a black currant wheat beer with an unforgettable taste, or Franc-Bois, a wheat ale fermented with yeast. from witbier, to which we added "a ton of raspberries" as the brewery website points out.
This summer, I will make a garden
At the Souche, we are in front of a menu of food brewery. With the difference that carrots, onions, zucchini, squash, beets, broccoli, cabbages, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce (phew!), Which will be found on your plate will have been produced within 100 meters of your first sip of Jackie Dunn or Limoiloise. The menu at La Souche exudes freshness so much that the menu may differ slightly from week to week depending on the harvest of the week.
So, shoot yourself a log or rather a stump, and add onion soup, foie gras, half a dozen poutines, homemade pizzas with Alexis de Portneuf goat cheese or smoked meat of pork. There are also salads such as hot potato with rocket and grilled squash, and the fish n'chips micro or grilled tofu bio.
But that's not all. La Souche spokesperson, Alex Gilbert, announces that in the spring, in concert with Forest vive, a Stoneham sugar refinery, the micro-brewery will produce maple syrup for its springtime meals, thanks to sixty maples she owns.
Aim for self-sufficiency in vegetables, produce a beer from A to Z for the first time this year, introduce local producers and even give back to the United Cities Mutual Aid Center garden vegetables when crops are plentiful like this. year, these are the challenges of La Souche. How not to have a crush on such a place and mission?