Our first stop was the Distillerie Fils du Roy, which we learned about yesterday when we traipsed out across the peaty moors and wetlands of Miscou Island and, seeing all that unused peat, wondered, "Why don't these people make a single malt scotch whiskey?" When we got home, we researched single malt scotch whiskeys in New Brunswick and - voilà! - we found this distillery. But, more amazing, it was only 3 miles from our campground! Well, we had to plan a visit. We decided to make that the start of our venture west in Acadia.
During a family reunion in 2011, the family that runs the distillery launched the idea of starting a distillery, and it was in 2012 that the Distillerie Fils du Roy was born. It is a micro-distillery, the main objective of which is to offer high quality spirits at an affordable price to New Brunswickers and, soon, to the outside world. In 2013, their products were competing at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The Single Malt Whiskey, which was due to be available in 2018, was the big reason we wanted to visit them.
Alas, our hopes were dashed. The single malt scotch whisky has already sold out this year, and they will not have any more for sale until they distill another batch (maybe in 2020 or later), or what was held back in this batch matures 10 years in the barrel and is made available in 2028. We were allowed to taste it, but that and this photo of their bottle and canister packaging --
-- is all we have to show of the single malt scotch whisky. It wasn't a total loss, because, truthfully, while the single malt as we tasted it has great potential, it is still far too young and needs to age before we would call it a favorite.
It turns out the distillery makes a wide variety of spirits and -- to our surprise -- several very tasty, high quality beers! The distillery itself won Distillery of the Year in 2013 at the New York International Spirits Competition. We learned all this while at the tasting bar with our new New Brunswick friends and our friendly and knowledgeable server:
Our server offered us a surprise tour of the distillery, which we couldn't pass up! As we walked back into the heart of the operation, we passed all the large barrels holding the aging spirits. We wanted to grab one of those single malt barrels right then and there, and roll it out and away -- but, in fact, it was a little too heavy.
The largest part of the distillery is devoted to brewing beer, and we imagine that they use their beer sales to fund the spirits operation, because there is a long lag time for many of the spirits to age. Here is one of their classic copper stills that is actually used in their distilling:
We found several beers we really liked, including one we're drinking right now as we write this blog: their "Le Grande Vicaire Paquet," a 5.5% blonde ale (BeerAdvocate.com calls it a cream ale) made with maple syrup that we find very tasty! Unfortunately, the distillery does not tell us who Grand Vicar Paquet refers to, but this we think we know: The distillery is located in Paquetville, which was founded by one Monseigneur Paquet in 1873, who brought several parishioners with him from nearby Shippagan. It was named for, in turn, the Reverend Joseph-Marie Paquet. While we think it likely that ONE of these Paquets is the namesake of the beer, we're at a complete loss to tell you which.
However, probably the biggest prize we picked up is the distillery's Gin Thuya (translated: Cedar Gin). Juniper berries from the back yard of the distillery is the dominant ingredient, but the second most important ingredient is cilantro. Gin Thuya earned a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in March 2013, which is the highest distinction available in the industry. It also recently earned a gold medal at the International Spirits Challenge in London. This doesn't communicate to you how rich and aromatic the taste of this gin is. We loved it and picked up a bottle for ourselves, and another bottle for our friends Leslie Manion and Dave Lopushinsky, who did so much to help us plan our trips to the Okanagan Valley and the Canadian Maritimes. Leslie loves gin, so, Leslie, you can expect to receive your gift when we see you two in Quartzsite in January 2019!
Believe it or not after all that rhapsodical description, the distillery wasn't our primary destination today. Our main goal was to visit Maisonnette, a fishing village with a population of about 600, located directly across from where we are staying in Caraquet, on the small bay made at the outlet of the Riviere du Nord. The village was first settled in 1832 as a temporary fishing port for people from Caraquet and nearby Bertrand. The small cabins people built here (maisonnettes in French) were the inspiration for the name of the village. We took the opportunity to walk out a long natural jetty at Parc Maisonnette. The first part of our stroll was along a boardwalk which appeared to have been significantly damaged in a recent storm:
It wasn't long before we were out on the spit, over a half mile from the village:
The beach boasted mainly smooth, rounded river stones, mollusk shells --
-- and some flotsam and jetsam such as this shipwrecked lobster or crab trap:
The tall spire of St. Peter's Catholic Church could be seen about 2.5 miles across the water in Caraquet:
We reached the end of the spit and David contemplated the meeting of the waters of the Baie des Chaleurs and the Riviere du Nord:
After what turned out to be almost a 2 hour walk, we continued our drive around Point Maisonnette, along a dirt road, Chemin des Chalets (translated: Chalets Road), which boasted every manner and size of maisonnete (cottage, cabin or shack) that could be imagined. Some were little more than RV's with expanded sunrooms. Some were more elaborate A-frame cabins. But each was distinctive and we decided we'd like one here.
All that unexpected beach walking developed a powerful peckishness, so Kathy found a funky little food shack at the quai in Grand Anse (translated: Grand Cove) called "Cantine Chez Coucouc," which you see in the photo on the quai, protected by the Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Jude sitting above it:
We wanted something hot and energizing, so what else should we order other than that great traditional Canadian dish - poutine! One serving is all the french fries, french sausage, cheese curds and gravy that you'll need for a full month. To be fair to David, he didn't eat this whole dish. We split it.
After that late (2:45 pm) lunch, we still had all our shopping to do. We drove back to a poissonerie (fish market) in Caraquet, which sits right on the commercial fishing boat marina -- all the better to get great seafood fresh off the boat!
Heading back to our campground, we stopped again at Boulangerie Grains de Folie, the cafe where we had a great breakfast yesterday, to pick up some ridiculously fresh and fragile bread, and made a stop at the fromagerie just down the road from our campground --
-- where we selected maybe five different kinds of special local cheeses that are made right there in the fromagerie. Now our pantry is completely stocked with produits de l'Acadie!
À la vôtre!
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