- Les brasseurs du nord
Les brasseurs du nord is a Quebec
microbrewery located just north of Montreal, inBlainville, Quebec . Founded in 1987 by three students at theUQAM (Laura Urtnowsky, and brothers Bernard and Jean Morin), who paid their way through school selling home made beer, decided to try their hand at establishing a commercial brewery. Thanks to a small loan, the company was established.The students loaded their first fourkeg s in the back of the family Subaru and went looking for their first client. They managed to convince 4 bars in Montreal to carry the brew, and the resulting surge in demand helped the company expand several times.The resulting company has been a commercial success, and is currently the number 2 microbrewery in Quebec. They account for just over 1% of the total beer sales in the province of Quebec (their products are not sold outside Quebec).
The company was named after the Aurora Borealis, and the label features a polar bear above the word Boreale. They currently brew six ale-type beers, Boréale Rousse (launched in 1998), Boréale Blonde (launched in 1990), Boréale Cuivrée, Boréale Noire, Boréale Dorée and Boréale Blanche. Current production is at 70 000 hL, equivalent to 850 000 cases of 24 bottles.
The company has also recently taken a "green" approach to things, hiring engineers to evaluate the expansion of the plant on the surrounding forest. They also had mature trees trans-planted at the facility to help keep the environment healthy. They have also incorporated several state of the art energy-saving technologies in the building. They also supply bars and restaurants with glasses made from recycled plastic, and have also donated money to help study the effects of climate change on polar bears around Hudson Bay.
ources
*D'eer, Mario. (2003,2005) Atlas mondial de la bière, Edition révisée. Trécarré, p. 235. ISBN 2-89568-273-9
* [http://www.boreale.qc.ca/eng/index.html official company website]
* http://archives.radio-canada.ca/economie_affaires/consommation/clips/1359-8205/
* http://www.canoe.com/artdevivre/cuisine/article1/2006/12/13/2771294-ca.html
* [http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/addsh/pdf/brasseurs.pdf brief biography of the founders of the company] fr icon
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