ECONOMUSEUM®& Reserved designations : La Distillerie du Grand Dérangement

Organic certification (2014)
Distiller’s ECONOMUSEUM®

Marcel Mailhot President & CEO

What drew you to organic production? (Certified organic in 2014)

“I was born here, on the Saint-Alexis farm; farming is all I know, I’ve never done anything else. Around 2013, my customer told me that he wanted to continue working with me for a long time, but that to do so, I would have to develop my organic business. I thought, okay, we’ll get started right away! Organic farming fits in well with the concerns I’ve always had in my business. For me, limiting the use of chemicals and thinking about soil preservation were self-evident, even at a time when they weren’t common practice. For a long time, I was seen as a strange bug because of that (laughs)!

I saw my father and his father working the land here. Little by little, the arrival of chemicals brought a kind of promise that these products would do the work for us, making it possible to produce by replacing to some extent the knowledge of those who knew the trade. Not only is this not very gratifying, but today, with the consequences it has had on the soil and the environment, we can see that it wasn’t the right way to go. The land has always been able to feed people, and that’s what you have to keep in mind if you want to work intelligently in agriculture. Here, on our land, we grow broccoli and cauliflower – supposedly difficult crops. But we manage, and we do it organically, with crop rotations.

With all this in mind, when I invested in the distillery in 2020, it was clear to me that a shift towards organic was a natural step. In the case of this project, the very fact of distilling the alcohol eliminates all traces of pesticides. But we wanted to go a step further and still work on growing the grains organically, so as not to leave any negative footprint on the planet. Our philosophy takes into account not only the product, but also our environment.

How has having to comply with specifications changed your daily life?

“In fact, specifications are never negative, whatever the sector. It’s about setting a goal and following predetermined steps to reach it. These steps are set out in the specifications, which we can then pass on to our teams. You have to go through each step, make sure that everything is in order and, above all, pay particular attention to the quality of the result of each of these steps; this is what ensures consistency in the processes and, by the same token, in the product. Publicity-wise, we don’t talk enough about all that’s involved, all that’s required to produce organic products. It’s a lot of heart and commitment, monitoring and attention.

Audits and monitoring of my specifications, my spaces, my team’s work could be done at any time here, day or night, we respect the specifications and we’re proud of it. We have 4 distinct organic certifications here! The processing plant, organic farming, organic greenhouse and distillery. In total, we have over 200 hectares of organic production, 45 of which are devoted to the grains destined for the distillery. And to maintain quality in all this, it’s the specifications that act like a recipe book; it’s a tool, not a constraint”.

How do people respond when you tell them about your commitment to organic production?

“We sell our vegetables to distributors, not directly to consumers. It’s through the distillery that we have contact with the consumer, via the economuseum. I’m the one who gives the tours, because it’s the perfect opportunity to let consumers know what we do. We manage to produce quality, local, organic alcohol, and to integrate the circular economy into the process. It’s great to see people receptive and interested in our way of working and doing things. We’ve seen one difficulty after another in the distillery sector over the past year, so the showcase we give to our product through tours is essential.”

After deciding to produce organic spirits, you quickly chose to continue the adventure by creating the Distiller’s Economuseum®. How does this support your approach?

“It was my colleague who came up with the idea of creating an economuseum, and we were the first startup to join this network; normally, economuseums are established within well-established companies! It’s been a big challenge, because we’ve been working on this set-up right from the very beginning of the distillery, when we were still in the process of structuring ourselves… it was a lot to take on at once! But today, we’re glad we pulled out all the stops back then, because the economuseum has really become the distillery’s main driving force. We give tours, we meet people. It gives me a chance to talk to them about econopolitics, ecology and economics… and all I ask is that they talk about us to the people around them! A lot of them leave here with one or a few bottles, and they’ve had the chance to learn more about what we do, but also to support our activities and our products”.

You are also engaged in a process of recognition through an appellation for spirits produced from Quebec raw materials and distillers’ know-how. Why is it important for you to protect your know-how and make it last by being Artisans à l’œuvre and having one, and possibly two, appellations?

“It’s an opportunity to allow people to buy locally, while passing on our vision and the raison d’être of our work. It’s about getting established recognition not only for our product, but also for the know-how of our distillers. Yes, it’s going to be good for our distillery, but it’s not about the money; it’s about having a social impact and gaining recognition for the exceptional work that goes into a distillery product made here from A to Z, in every respect. Many of us are proving every day that producing quality spirits here is both possible and beautiful. The reserved appellation will enable the spirits resulting from this work to be recognized for their true worth.