Unibroue is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

Chambly, Quebec Chambly is an off-island suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located in the Montérégie region, inland from the South Shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It was formed from the merger in 1965 of Fort-Chambly (formerly Chambl ...

, Canada, that was started by Serge Racine and Quebec native André Dion. The company was purchased by

Sleeman Breweries Ltd. Sleeman Breweries is a Japanese-owned Canadian brewery founded by John Warren Sleeman in 1988 in Guelph, Ontario. The company is the third-largest brewing company in Canada. Along with its own Sleeman brands, the company produces under licence th ...

in 2004, which was itself taken over by

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

in 2006. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is the first of three microbrewing companies in Greater Montreal area (followed by " Brasseurs RJ" and " McAuslan"), both chronologically and in terms of sale benefits.

History

Unibroue was founded by business partners André Dion and Serge Racine who had acquired 75% of La Brasserie Massawippi Inc. of

Lennoxville Lennoxville is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lenno ...

in 1990. The two purchased the remainder of the shares at the end of 1991 when they transferred their interest in La Brasserie Massawippi Inc. to Unibroue. By 1992, La Brasserie Massawippi Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unibroue. Afterward, it changed its corporate name to Brasserie Broubec Inc. and in July 1993 merged with Unibroue. It was bought by Canadian brewer,

, in 2004. Sleeman, in turn, was purchased in 2006 by

Beers

Unibroue makes a wide range of beers; although, there is a focus on Belgian-style brews, such as their '' Maudite'' ('Damned'), ''La Fin du Monde'' ('The End of the World'), and ''Don de Dieu'' ('Gift from God'). Most of Unibroue's beers are bottled "on the lees", or containing yeast sediment (or ''lees''). This practice provides additional fermentation, also called

bottle-conditioned Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

, after bottling. The result is a beer which ages well if kept in the dark and unrefrigerated, and allows it to be shipped relatively cheaply to international markets. The yeast gives Unibroue beers a cloudy appearance and provides a characteristic element to the taste. On many of their labels, suggested serving temperatures (for example, "better at 12°–14°C") are included.

Standard line

La Fin du Monde

''La Fin du Monde'' (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "The End of the World") is a Belgian-style tripel and bottle conditioned

golden ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Diff ...

introduced in July 1994. The name is claimed to derive from the European explorers' belief that they had reached the end of the world when they arrived in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. The colour is a cloudy blonde with a golden hue. Though similar to Belgian tripels in appearance, La Fin du Monde is less bitter and more spicy (featuring coriander and orange peel), more similar to Tripel Karmeliet than standard tripels like

Chimay Chimay (, wa, Chimai) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. In 2006, Chimay had a population of 9,774. The area is 197.10 km2 which gives a population density of 50 inhabitants per km2. It is th ...

and

Westmalle Westmalle is a village in the Belgian province of Antwerp which is part of the municipality of Malle. History See history of Malle. Tourism Westmalle is primarily known for the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle of the Order of Cistercians of the St ...

. The beer contains a very high (9% ABV) alcohol content. As of 2016, this beer has earned more medals and awards, including some of the world's highest honors, than any other Canadian beer.

Don de Dieu

''Don de Dieu'' is a wheat ale which is re-fermented in the bottle, brewed in the Belgian strong

pale ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Dif ...

style. The beer and label were inspired by the explorer

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

de Brouage and his ship, the '' Don de Dieu'' ('Gift from God').

Maudite

Translated into "Damned", this is an 8% ABV Strong amber-red ale. (The label denotes the style as "Belgian Style Double Ale").

Blanche de Chambly

Blanche de Chambly is a Belgian-style

witbier Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ye ...

. The first refermented white beer brewed according to Belgian tradition in North America. 5.0% ABV.

À Tout Le Monde

Added in 2016, À Tout Le Monde is a Saison style beer. Added in 2016, at 4.5% ABV, it is the brewery's lowest alcohol beer. It was brewed at the request of guitarist Dave Mustaine of

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

Special brew-lines

Unibroue brews and bottles the

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...

Vintage Ale.

Awards

La Fin du Monde has been the winner of many medals of excellence: 5 platinum, 6 gold, and 1 silver from the

Beverage Testing Institute The Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) is a marketing service company that provides reviews for spirits, wines, and beers. It uses numerical scores and publishes books of its test results. The company's beer marketing program, the World Beer Champio ...

since its introduction in 1994. In 2004 it won the gold medal at the

Los Angeles County Fair The Los Angeles County Fair is an annual county fair. It was first held on October 17, 1922, and ran for five days through October 21, 1922, in a former beet field in Pomona, California. Highlights of the fair's first year were harness racing ...

for Belgian-Style Abbey Ale. Don de Dieu has won four gold medals from the

since its introduction in 1998. Grande Reserve 17 received the "World's best dark ale" award at the World Beer Awards in London, England in 2011. Also, it received a Platinum medal from the Beverage Testing Institute in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Unibroue has won several awards in subsequent years too, at the World Beer Awards. In 2015, for example, the company's products received many accolades. La Fin du Monde was declared World's Best Belgian Style Tripel, La Résolution and Éphémère Poire (pear), La Résolution won The Americas' Best Belgian Style Strong and Éphémère Poire was named The Americas' Best Fruit Flavored Beer. The Unibroue 17 Grande Réserve was declared The Americas’ Best Vintage Dark Beer and the company won three gold medals for Terrible, Maudite, Éphémère Pomme, three silver medals for Blanche de Chambly, Trois Pistoles, Noire de Chambly, and a bronze medal for Blonde de Chambly. At the 2016 Awards, the company won the following World's Best awards: Belgian Style Strong Dark, Unibroue Trois Pistoles and Belgian Style Tripel, Unibroue La Fin Du Monde. Conventional awards for Unibroue products included Belgian Style Strong Dark - Silver Medal, Fruit & Vegetable Flavoured Beer - Silver Medal, Belgian Style Witbier - Gold Medal.

References

External links

Unibroue website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unibroue Canadian beer brands Beer brewing companies based in Quebec Companies based in Quebec Chambly, Quebec Sapporo Breweries