Dieu du Ciel Brewpub

29 west Laurier ave, Montreal | Tel: 514.490.9555

Description of Dieu du Ciel Brewpub

The most common question I get is how I became a brewer. It’s definitely not a trade that is learned in College or in University! In fact the results of the many vocational guidance tests which I took in highschool were rather eclectic. My aptitudes ranged from engineer or scientist to bus driver or even from actor to musician (only to name a few!). At the time, I felt these tests were nothing but a waste of time. I knew I wanted to study in science but I didn’t know which scientific branch to hang on! In retrospect, I think the vocational guidance tests revealed that my interests in science, the arts and human relations would be melded into one profession.

I started brewing beer at home during the summer of ’91 at the age of 19. I was working for Student Painter’s, and the founder of that company brewed his own beer. The results of his homebrew were quite interesting compared to the commercial beers that were flooding the market at the time (especially outside of Montreal). In September of that year, I was going back to CEGEP to finish my degree in science after a small venture in the study of mechanical engineering. My goal was, at the time, to do an undergraduate degree in Biology with a career in Environmental Biology in mind.

At the beginning of my brewing career, I was more concerned with the money I was saving by brewing my own beer! I would brew with ready made kits bought at a distilled water boutique. I would brew once or twice a month in my Montreal North apartment and the brewing process consisted of adding water and yeast to the ready made kit. The first batches were only slightly tolerable. So I started experimenting with different brewing parameters, such as the quantity of sugar added. The subsequent batches were indigestible to say the least.

After a year of this primitive brewing, I decided to buy a book on how to make a good home brew. ("Comment faire de la bonne bière chez soi" by Jean-François Simard). This book allowed me to better understand the art and science of brewing. I was starting to be engrossed by a passion to brew good beer. It’s with an old friend, Alain Tanguay, that I started to brew beer much more intensively. Once a week, we would brew in my mother’s basement which happened to be very spacious and at an ideal fermentation temperature. The quality of the end product improved drastically. I also started refining my beer palate by sampling many imported beers. I was mostly influenced by Belgian style beers because of their taste, their image and their names. In March 1993, we decided to name our beer "Dieu du Ciel" loosely translated as "Oh my God!". I felt we had chosen a name that was at once humorous and a name that made reference to the Quebecois culture, dominated for so long by the clergy, and the Belgian culture of fine brewing.

Source: dieuduciel.com

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Email: info@dieuduciel.com