Brownstein: Wisdom from Peter McAuslan’s beer career bubbles up in new book

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Jeannine Marois, president and co-founder of the Mondial de la bière, doesn’t mince words talking about the role of Peter McAuslan in Quebec’s microbrewery revolution: “Where would microbrewing here be without him?

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“He was there at the very beginning when there were so few microbreweries around — but more than that, it was also the quality of his beer that stood up then and still now.”

It all began in 1989 with McAuslan Brewing’s dynamite, oh so tasty pale ale St-Ambroise. Its founder went on to become a living oxymoron: a giant microbrewer — not just a reference to his six-foot-plus height.

No question, McAuslan — who sold the company to Les Brasseurs RJ in 2013 — is deservedly recognized as a beer pioneer.

So it’s only fitting that McAuslan will launch his book Brewing Better Beer on Thursday at the Mondial de la bière site at Windsor Station. After a two-year break due to the pandemic, the beer fest — the first of Montreal’s major spring/summer events — will roll out more than 400 brews from Thursday to Sunday, with an array of McAuslan Brewing suds among them.

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“The first time I ever had a microbrewery beer, it was St-Ambroise, and I fell in love with it right away,” says a smiling Marois, while sharing a pre-fest brew with McAuslan on Windsor Station’s terrasse. “Before that, I never really liked beer. Now when 5 o’clock comes, it’s time for my daily St-Ambroise.”

Brewing Better Beer not only provides insights into crafting an amber elixir from water, barley, hops and yeast, it also offers a frank and comprehensive look at the challenges posed by entering an industry dominated by players who aren’t amused by the presence of an upstart. McAuslan does n’t pull any punches here, but he does give abundant credit to his associates who made his dream a reality, particularly his significant other and brew master Ellen Bounsall.

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Unlike most in the beer trade, McAuslan didn’t study the art or serve an apprenticeship at an established brewery. Instead, I have studied English literature and philosophy at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia). After graduation, McAuslan went back to school, at Dawson College, where he worked as registrar for 10 years and as secretary-general for three.

After much experimentation, St-Ambroise was born from a home-brew recipe concocted by McAuslan and Bounsall.

As for his justification for getting into the business: “My accountant always told me that one has to have a certain amount of investments in liquid funds.”

McAuslan and Bounsall aren’t exactly retired now. They are living in Sutton and, having started a malting and distilling endeavor in 2007, have been crafting specialty gins and single-malt scotches available at the SAQ.

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“But I have never lost my fondness for beer,” McAuslan, 76, says between sips. “Microbrews, that is.”

When Marois began Mondial de la bière in 1994, there were only about 10 microbreweries represented, McAuslan Brewing among them and a fest staple ever since. This edition will feature over 70. And when the beer fest began, microbrewers’ percentage of the marketplace was next to nothing. Today, they account for a rather significant 12 per cent of the market share in North America.

“But when we talk about the dollar share in terms of revenue, we’re now looking at over 15 per cent,” McAuslan says. “The small brewers have clearly created some problems for the biggest of the brewers. There are enough players out there now so that there’s also a lot of competition among the microbrewers. It’s become such a boom market since we started.

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“It’s an incredibly important industry now. But at the beginning, there were people who didn’t really want us to succeed. Large financial institutions, large grocers and large retailers aren’t always on the side of the little guy. There are still some fine microbreweries that are struggling to find their place on the shelves of a lot of stores.”

No accident that McAuslan supported the little guys, either. While Budweiser would sponsor acts like the Rolling Stones, St-Ambroise would get behind local acts like Me Mom and Morgentaler and smaller-scale fests like the Fringe.

“We could identify with these groups and events, because we could relate to their struggle as artists. There was a very close parallel from who we were promoting and what they were doing to what we were doing.”

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As a result, McAuslan’s products developed such a strong, loyal following that the microbrewery would become, dare we say, almost a macro player in the local beer biz.

“Honestly, it’s all about passion and creativity,” McAuslan says. “That’s really what brewing better beer is all about.”

If you brew it, they will quaff it. And they certainly have.

AT A GLANCE

Peter McAuslan’s Brewing Better Beer (John Aylen Books, $34.95) is available at bookstores and through Amazon. see petermcauslan.ca for more details. McAuslan will sign copies at the Mondial de la bière site Thursday, May 19 beginning at noon.

The Mondial de la bière festival runs from Thursday, May 19 through Sunday, May 22 at Windsor Station. For more information, see festivalmondialbiere.qc.ca.

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