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Le Brasseur | The Brewer 

The brasseur, or brewer, assembled the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of beer.

According to historians, the first Québec settlers came from regions in France where cider and beer were produced more than wine. They brought with them an alcoholic beverage they called bouillon, which was consumed in Picardy and Haute-Normandie.

Here is what can be gleaned from records about the history of brewing in New France:

• As early as 1620, the Récollets (early missionaries to the colony) brewed beer at the convent of Notre-Dame-des-Anges.

• In 1627, Louis Hébert was able to brew beer thanks to his apothecary equipment.

• The 1646 “Relations des Jésuites” (a collection of correspondence between the missionaries and their religious superiors in Paris) mention that Brother Ambroise prepared beer for the inhabitants of Sillery.

• In 1642, Louis Prud'homme became the first professional brewer.

• A marriage contract dated 22 October 1650 mentions the existence of a brewery in Montréal. Mr. de Maisonneuve offers the newlyweds "a land contiguous to the brewery property".

• In 1690, the Sieur de Longueuil established a brewery on his land.

• From 1704 to 1744, the Charron brothers, founders of the Montreal General Hospital, added a brewery to their establishment.

• Intendant Jean Talon, who arrived in the colony in 1665, attempted the first commercial brewing business in Quebec's history. In 1668, he founded a brewery in Québec City. It produced beer from local resources: water (available in abundance), grain (especially barley but also wheat and, to a lesser extent, rye) and hops, which were planted in vast fields belonging to Talon but also in the small gardens of Québec. The intendant was overly optimistic: in his correspondence with the King of France, he claimed that his brewery would eventually produce up to 4,000 barrels of beer a year, and that half of the production could be exported to the West Indies, or even Europe. In reality, production was ephemeral: the brewery closed its doors after barely ten years of existence.
  

Professional brewers opened establishments in Québec City, Trois-Rivières and Montréal throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but production remained modest. Canadians would have to wait for the advent of English Regime in order for beer production to really begin on a large scale.

Brewers in Canada between 1630 et 1766 :

• Pierre Blondel, Trois-Rivières, about 1639

• Raymond Pagé dit Quercy, Québec, about 1650

• Louis Prud’Homme, Montréal, 1658

• Louis Lefebvre dit Battanville, Québec, 1666-1683

• Jacques Faucher dit Laviolette, Montréal, 1699-1718

• François Picard dit Laroche, Trois-Rivières, 1699-1719

• Joseph Parent, Montréal, 1706

• Nicolas Monnet dit Boismenu, Longueuil, 1706-1709

• André Sibert, Montréal, 1706-1708

• Pierre Crépau, Montréal, 1709-1718

• Denis Constantin (père), Québec, 1710-1716

• Léonard Baron dit St-Cybart, Montréal, 1711-1712

• Guillaume Pagé dit Quercy, Québec, 1712

• Jean-Fiacre d’Aubigny, Québec, 1712

• François Bougret dit Dufort, Montréal, 1728-1765

• Denis Constantin (fils), Québec, 1744-1746

• Nicolas Jourdain, Québec, 1754-1766 

Brasseur is also a common occupational surname that survives in Canada today.

Watch this short video to learn more about the history of Canada’s second oldest company, Molson Coors.

Sources:

• Catherine Ferland, “De la bière et des hommes. Culture matérielle et aspects socioculturels de la brasserie au Canada, xviie-xviiie siècles”, Terrains & travaux (2005); electronic edition, Cahiers du département de sciences sociales de l'ENS de Cachan, France (https://www.cairn.info/revue-terrains-et-travaux-2005-2-page-32.htm), 32-50.

• Wikipedia contributors, “Bière du Québec”,Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bi%C3%A8re_du_Qu%C3%A9bec&oldid=139547305).