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Published on Feb 15, 2022
Year after year, the 28-day alcohol-free challenge has been gaining momentum, a challenge that is sometimes difficult for a sommelier to meet! Fortunately, several Townships producers offer delicious alcohol-free beverages. Here are my favourite products from the Eastern Townships.
By Marc-Antoine Bergeron
A few years ago, the market for alcohol-free beer was very limited. The brewers who offered these beers only produced lager varieties with a sometimes-questionable taste! Fortunately, since then, things have changed significantly. Today, the taste, texture and variety of alcohol-free beers are well established.
The Vrooden brewery in Granby is, in my opinion, a true leader in the field. Always using a German brewing process, their beers are textured, tasty and don’t give the impression you’re “eating a bowl of cereal!” Vrooden Brewery offers a full range of alcohol-free beers that will appeal to a variety of palates. Blonde ales, refreshing reds, stouts with rich roasted coffee and chocolate flavours, dry and hoppy IPAs, fruitier and bold IPAs, and a light amber raspberry beer (which will make you forget all about winter for a moment)… You’ll find a beer to your liking for those thirsty moments during your 28-day challenge.
Of all the memories I have of the Siboire in Sherbrooke, alcohol was present every time. Today, I am extremely happy to find their Discipline beer, an authentic, alcohol-free brew offering the same full taste and essence of the establishment’s regular products. Discipline is an IPA that will delight your taste buds with its grapefruit and lemon zest flavour enhanced with a hint of coconut. Its bitterness is very light and its texture is smooth and well balanced.
For a fruitier and equally refreshing alternative, Cidrerie Milton offers its Coccinelle series, a sparkling and festive product made with 100% apple must with no added sugar. To my surprise, during my taste test, it was much less sweet than I’d expected. I truly felt as if I was biting into an apple in the middle of September, but without any of the sugary effect! An apple-strawberry option is also available. This is often the favourite of the little ones.Good to know, Coccinelle apple musts can also be used as your favourite ingredient for making great mocktails, including the alcohol-free Kir “Breton”, made with:
Simply pour the Elderberry Cordial into a champagne flute and add the Coccinelle apple must. Enjoy!
If this word wasn’t part of our vocabulary ten years ago, today you’ll find it on most fine restaurants’ beverage lists! Many of our Québec-produced alcohol-free “strong spirits” (easily found at the SAQ or at your local grocery store) serve as a basic ingredient for mocktails (HP Juniper, Noroie, Hickson…). To guide your choice, I suggest you try an Eastern Townships product, still somewhat unknown, but which has been in existence for more than 125 years now!
The Bull’s Head company has been producing several natural soda drinks and tonics for your mocktail recipes as well as for your regular daily beverages. These include ginger ale spicy or not (elaborated with their classic 1896 recipe), caffeine-free cola with a touch of cinnamon, classic root beer, bitter tonic and cream soda (with much less sugar than in other products on the market). Here’s a recipe to try using their base ingredient:
Mango Mule
Pour the mango juice and verjuice in a shaker filled with ice. Shake and serve in a mule glass (or a whisky glass) with the ice. Add the Bull’s Head ginger beer and decorate with the mint leaf and the slice of mango fruit.
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