What they drank, under the French regime.

WHAT THEY DRANK, under the French regime.

What did our ancestors who came from France and elsewhere drink? The first arrivals certainly tried to keep to their old habits; in that period, Europeans quenched their thirst with beer, cider and wine.

Cervoise, or beer, was brewed from wheat, barley or hops, mixed with water and then fermented. It must be said that in Europe, in earlier times, this was the most widespread drink; the Germanic peoples of central Europe made and drank cervoise in great quantity, and the Gauls were passionately fond of it. The vine, brought into southern Europe by the Romans, yielded a well-regarded wine, drunk mainly by nobles and townsfolk, since it cost more. It was around 1200 to 1400 that cider spread through Europe. By about 1500, in Paris, there were at least three choices of drink: beer, cider, wine. But beer remained the most popular: it was cheap, and one could be reasonably sure of never running short of raw materials. The vine is subject to diseases (as it would be with phylloxera around 1861), and apple trees sometimes have a bad season.

In his writings, Jacques Cartier speaks of the abundance of wild vines along the shores of the St. Lawrence. With land clearing, it is thought that the vines « ont pris des engelures » [took frostbite] and were never able to prosper. In any case, the first settlers of Canada, coming from beer and cider countries, did not take to wine.

In Champlain’s day, New France received apple trees from Normandy, plantings that would be flourishing 25 years later. In the Québec and Montréal regions, several varieties of apple were grown, used mostly for compote, since they were probably not cider apples.

Louis Hébert, for his part, would improve a drink already known; an apothecary and herbalist, he developed spruce beer. Ninety years before Hébert, Cartier’s men had been cured by this remedy of the « Sauvages » [the Indigenous people], which they made as best they could from spruce branches, knowing nothing of fermentation. For Louis Hébert, spruce branches would serve as both remedy and beverage.

Another drink was much appreciated at the time: bouillon, made from raw dough, leavened and fermented in spiced water. Bouillon was even sold by the barrel. Pierre Boucher, answering questions put to him in Paris, said: « A l’ ordinaire, on boit du vin dans les meilleures maisons de la colonie, de la bière dans d’autres, aussi un breuvage appelé bouillon qui se boit communément dans toutes les maisons. Les plus pauvres boivent de l’eau qui est fort bonne et commune dans ce pays » [ordinarily, wine is drunk in the best houses of the colony, beer in others, and also a drink called bouillon, commonly drunk in every house; the poorest drink water, which is very good and plentiful in this country]. He adds: « On n’a point planté d’arbres fruitiers de France sauf quelques pommiers qui rapportent de fort bonnes pommes et en quantité » [no fruit trees from France have been planted, apart from a few apple trees that yield very good apples, and in quantity] — apples used for compote; cider counted for practically nothing in the colony fifty years after the founding of Québec.

In 1670, Jean Talon had breweries built, faced with the fact that beer had overtaken cider in the people’s consumption.

After 1665, rum was also present, along with a mediocre cane brandy called guildive*, which would bring a great deal of trouble.

As soon as the country began to receive people of quality, importing wine became necessary; Burgundy wines were preferred, the reputation of Bordeaux wine not being good in the 17th century, and champagne cost far too much.

On top of that, the women had no equal when it came to making syrups, sweet cordials, red-currant wine, raspberry wine, blackcurrant wine and others.

With the excellent river water, strong beer, spruce beer, guildive, rum, small-fruit wines and sweet cordials, there was plenty to gladden and warm the hearts of the first settlers.

With the English regime, habits would change.

References: Mélanges historiques by Benjamin Sulte

* Guildive: from the English « kill-devil, tue-diable »; a brandy drawn from sugar cane, like rum, but poorly distilled; the Dominican Jean-Baptiste Labat, in Guadeloupe at the beginning of the 18th century, perfected an ingenious still, which gave rise to a far more refined brandy: rum.