When staying in Canada's Capital Region, we highly recommend you visiti its incredible microbreweries whether in Ottawa or in Gatineau. Across the river in Quebec, you will not only find a greta number of local breweries producing some unique and exciting craft beers, but you will also find a different beer culture.
See, the area which is now the City of Gatineau has been producing alcohol for over 200 years. It first started off with a whiskey distillery. Why whiskey? Essentially, whiskey could be used for tradding with the local indigenous populations and there still was not enough people living in this area to produce beer.
Later on, with the prohibition era, while it became illegal to produce alcohol in North America, it was still legal in Quebec! We never had the prohibition. Because of this, we alway say that Gatineau had and has a tumultuous and sometimes violent history with alcohol. Image, Old-Hull, now Downtown Gatineau, was once called the Petit Chicago ('Litte Chicago').
Still today, Gatineau has a very interesting relationship with alcohol.
Want to learn more about Gatineau's incredible history with beer and alcohol? Join Aventure Outaouais for Gatineau Craft Beer Tour every Friday night while we take you to 3 diffrent breweries in the heart of Gatineau, and take you backstage to learn about the production and the history. Plus, this tour does include 12 tastings of beer, enough to allow you to discover what Quebec has going on! Best part is: we offer free transportation from Ottawa & Gatineau!
