In 1845, John Adams Perkins built a water-powered sawmill at the Blanche River Falls to harvest and work the trees in the area. This refreshing beer is slightly hazy, with it’s boreal herbs, it shows hints of spruce an vanilla.
Perkins was an American cloth merchant who decided to settle in this area, which at the time was far from any means of communication. He and his descendants did business here until 1899, first with timber, then with phosphate and mica mines. His name is at the origin of the name of the village, which has since been integrated into the Municipality of Val-des-Monts.
The village of Perkins owes its origins to its waterfalls, which enabled the construction of a water-powered sawmill, and to the exploitation of its natural resources. Today, however, it is renowned for its resort activities: river canoeing, kayaking, sport fishing and peaceful cottage life.
It’s often said that a color is not a style in beer. The only exception widely accepted in brewing circles: white beer. A veiled beer containing up to 40% raw wheat, which gives the beer whitish accents, and light citrus aromas that make this Belgian style of a magnificent summer companion. Since the Collines-de-l’Outaouais region has a river named after the Blanche, it was essential for us to give our Blanche a story that pays tribute to the pioneers who harnessed the great power of its falls to develop the area.
Our Blanche des Chutes is a reference to the Chutes de la Blanche! Firmly anchored in the Canadian shield, the Collines-de-l’Outaouais, with its steep escarpment, reflects the scars left by the passage of glaciers. Here and there, the river is dotted with waterfalls and rapids, giving the Collines pleasant vistas to look at, as well as great adventures that require self control for those who tackle them by canoe or kayak. And for us, nothing evokes the cloudiness and veiled whiteness of beer quite like the cloudiness and whiteness of the whirlpools formed at the foot of a waterfall. La Blanche has its falls, and the falls have their Blanche.
Brewing with 100% Quebec ingredients brings its share of challenges. Making a traditional Belgian blanche without adding bitter orange peel or coriander seeds may seem like heresy. But we’re not about to see Quebec orange groves. This is where our friends from Nos Forêts Épicées in St-Luc-de-Bellechasse come in! How do you evoke citrus notes with boreal herbs? We succeeded with a clever blend of black spruce buds, larch needle, goldenrod and sweet clover infusion. With a base of Pilsner Moderne from Innomalt in Sherbrooke, hard red wheat and flaked oats from Maltbroue in Bas St-Laurent, flavoured with Magnum, El Dorado and Centennial from Houblonnière Lupuline in Pontiac and a hint of Saaz from Jarret Noir in Beauce, our Blanche was fermented using Belgian yeast from Labo Solution Brassicole in La Pocatière. The result is a refreshing beer that smells, feels and tastes like home!
