A taste of Québec: Fjord in a bottle
How one distillery managed to capture the aromatic essence of the region and made it into one of Canada's finest gins
Distillerie du Fjord's Serge and his sons Jean-Philippe and Benoît Bouchard inherited a passion for gin that flowed through their family tree's roots long before they opened the distillery in 2016. They are a family of gin lovers with homemade stills that date back generations. Benoît's father, Bertrand, had crafted gin on a Coleman stove in his basement. That still now holds pride of place above the distillery's tasting room. With welding scars encircling it, the short pot still resembles a droid from Star Wars, built from salvaged Canadian Tire parts, serving as a rustic monument, a decommissioned family heirloom, and a work of art that recounts the Bouchard family's distilling heritage.
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Distillerie du Fjord in Saint-David-de-Falardeau, Québec, Canada. (The Weather Network)
However, the family’s roots did not make their gin critically acclaimed. Instead, the trees and flora that spring from the surrounding boreal forest's roots claim that accolade. In the forest, Mother Nature prioritizes quality over quantity, and this connection inspired the Bouchards to develop the flavour in a gin that started it all – Km12. They named it after the 12 km marker on Mont-Valin Road, where naturally pure water flows from the heart of the forest, not far from the Saguenay River and its glacier-carved fjord.
Original still from Bertrand Bouchard. (The Weather Network)
Depending on the season, hiking through the boreal forest along the fjord reveals landscapes lush with Balsam-fir buds, peppery green alder, pine forest spikenard, wild raspberry leaves, and sweet gale – just a few of the wild ingredients sustainably handpicked by experts for the distillery where Mother Bouchard, better known as Lily, measures precise amounts to blend with organic juniper berries, giving Km12 its flavourful complexity.
Aromatics forged from the boreal forest around the distillery for their Km12 gins. (The Weather Network)
The concept was to translate the flavours of a London Dry gin into something local by substituting traditional ingredients with the richness of the boreal forest, using foraged regional plants with similar tastes. For instance, notes of cinnamon and clove with a spicy and woody profile can be found locally in a sweet fern that grows among Saguenay blueberry bushes and is considered a weed. The blueberry farmers are happy to remove it, and the distillery uses it to obtain the spice notes they seek.
Photo of Km12 in, a classic gin inspired by the richness of the Québec boreal forest. (The Weather Network)
Distillery du Fjord has perfected translating the forest aromas that flood the olfactory system while you hike through the fjord and bottle them with all their delicate nuances. They have captured the aromatic essence of the region and made it into one of Canada's finest gins.
Experiencing Canada host Nathan Coleman with Jean-Philippe Bouchard, Co-Founder of Distillerie du Fjord. (The Weather Network)
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