MICROBREWERY

Located at the heart of L’Anse-à-Beaufils, a picturesque fishing village close to Percé on the Gaspé Peninsula, Pit Caribou opened its doors back in 2007, and quickly made a name for itself as a brilliant, creative and innovative enterprise.

If you’ve visited the microbrewery in the past, you’ll have seen first hand that although we’ve grown exponentially since 2007—modifying our facilities time and time again to accommodate our growing company, opening pubs around the province, and creating hundreds of beers—we’ve always managed to preserve our Gaspésian roots and family values, and we’ve never once compromised on the quality of our brews.

Planning a trip to the microbrewery?
You’ll be blown away by the wide-ranging beers available on tap!

Our Story

Founded by craft beer enthusiasts Benoît Couillard and Francis Joncas, Pit Caribou has come a long way since 2007! Here are just some of the highlights of our journey.

2007

The Start

Francis Joncas and Benoît Couillard opened the one and only microbrewery in Eastern Quebec. They rented out part of an old seal processing plant that had been turned into a harbour in L’Anse-à-Beaufils, a lobster fishing port. They repurposed and modified some old dairy farm equipment and set to brewing their first two beers: La Blonde de l’Anse and La Bonne Aventure.

2008

Growlers

They invested in a manual beer gun and began selling their beers directly at the microbrewery in 1.9 L growlers. They opened a small store at the microbrewery itself. They began distributing barrels of beer to dining establishments and bars across the Gaspé Peninsula.

2009

Modernization

A third beer is added to the microbrewery’s roster— the La 475 Blanche de Pratto—brewed for the 475th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s arrival in Gaspé. The team modernized its equipment by adding 2,000 L fermenters and changing the brewing system.

2010

500 ml Bottles

A fourth beer is released: La Gaspésienne no. 13. The team purchased a small bottler and started bottling the microbrewery’s four signature beers in 500 ml bottles to be distributed to grocery stores and convenience stores across the Gaspé Peninsula.

2011

The Étoile du Brasseur Series

Ready to experiment with some new brews, the microbrewery came up with the Étoile du Brasseur Series. The first beer released from the series was an English-style IPA. The La Anneda Ale, the Bitter, the Double Wit, the Pale Ale and the Wee Heavy rounded out the Étoile de Brasseur Series in 2011. Of note in 2011: the La Gaspésienne no. 13 won the silver medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

2012

The Tennessee and Farmhouse Ale Series

2012 was the year of the Tennessee Series with the release of two new brews: Toxic Tennessee and Tennessee no. 13. The Tennessee Series was shortly followed by the Farmhouse Ale Series with the release of the Saison B. The microbrewery also invested in new equipment, changing the brewing system and adding 8,000 L fermenters, enabling its brewers to double production.

2013

Pub Pit Caribou Percé

With the microbrewery welcoming an increasing number of visitors and quite frankly running out of space, Pit Caribou decided to open a tasting room in the centre of Percé. A historic building in downtown Percé—the former Charles Robin general store—was on the market and was a perfect fit for Pit Caribou’s first pub.

2014

Maturation

The maturation of our beer became increasingly important for our brewers. With this in mind, we created “Chai” a space within the microbrewery to accommodate our oak aging barrels.

2015

Chai

We expanded the capacity of our facilities for a second time, adding a cold room, a new bottling room, and a temperature-controlled room for our new Chai. A residency at the Cantillon Brewery in Belgium confirmed our passion for sour beers.

2016

Pub Pit Caribou Montreal

Pit Caribou entered the big city market opening a tasting room in Montreal where patrons can enjoy microbrewery beers from Eastern Quebec, Gaspésian products and imported products. In 2016, we also created a coolship in a shed with a green roof behind the microbrewery, close to the sea.

2017

Spontaneous Fermentation

After pushing for over 10 years, we finally got authorization from the Quebec Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux to create spontaneous fermentation beers —beers that do not contain added yeast, but rather ferment using the bacteria found naturally in our environment. Such an incredible win for the Quebec brewing community!

2018

A second spontaneous fermentation beer

In 2018 the community of craft beer connoisseurs reached an all-time high, and at Pit Caribou, we could hardly brew enough to keep up with demand! 2018 was a record year for production, yet our brewers still managed to find the time to create a second spontaneous fermentation beer: the Perséides no. 2.

2019

New Owners

Francis Joncas sold Pit Caribou to Jean-François Nellis and Vincent Coderre, a dynamic duo striving to continue the development of one of the Gaspésie’s most treasured businesses: Pit Caribou. 2019 also marked the year of the introduction of canned beer with the IPA américaine des Appalaches. The L’Arlequin, the La Session IPA de Lesseps and the Paradise Point were also released in cans shortly afterwards.

2020

New products

The year 2020 was triggered by the pandemic, but also by great solidarity. We have products in collaboration with the Société Secrète distillery of antiseptic gel to alleviate a shortage at the start of the crisis. Closing our restaurant and bar clients has been difficult, but the team has released almost 35 limited edition beers for you at home.

Production Process

Mashing
Boiling
Cooling
Fermentation
Maturation
Packaging

Between fiction and reality:
The Legend of Pit Caribou

“Pit Caribou was a character in the old Radio-Canada soap Les Belles histoires des pays d’en haut. It was something that my mother and grandfather watched when I was young. It’s a memory that really stands out from my childhood, I loved it. To cut a long story short, Pit Caribou was the village alcoholic. He was a character that always made me laugh, but was also thought-provoking. He was always getting manipulated, but deep down he was a big softy!”
-Francis Joncas, founder of Pit Caribou.

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