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Canada has everything you need to make great spirits. As with many places, the ability to open new distilleries has only been achieved in recent decades. Despite this late start, Quebec City has a few new distillers who are producing spirits with local ingredients and are happy to welcome visitors for tours and tastings. Here are my favorite distilleries in Quebec City, producing everything from whisky and gin to fruit-based liqueurs.
One way to get a nice introduction to Quebec City is to take a tour. Check out these excellent tour options & book now!
The Best Distilleries In Quebec City
Distillerie Stadaconé
I’ve visited many distilleries around the world, and there’s a certain sameness to almost every tour and tasting. First, you tour the production area, learning about the distillation process and the business. Then you go for a tasting. One of the things I loved about Distillerie Stadaconé is that their tour starts with something unique: an escape room!
The escape room is a fun way to learn a bit about distilling while also meeting your fellow tour members. It doesn’t take long to do, so if an escape room isn’t your thing, you’ll still have the rest of the tour and tasting to enjoy.
After the escape room game, Thomas, our guide, then led us into the distillery, which opened in 2019.
The name of Distillerie Stadaconé comes from the Iroquois village of Stadacona that preceded Quebec City. This village also inspired the name of Canada, as the Iroquois word for “village” is kanata.
Distillerie Stadaconé doesn’t directly produce the pure alcohol it uses in its spirits, as it’s cheaper to purchase it in Ontario. It’s the transformation of this spirit where Stadaconé focuses its efforts, using ingredients from around the world to produce its flavor profiles.
We toured through the bottling and cellar storage areas, as well as the mixing and canning lines that Stadaconé uses for their canned cocktails.
Next, it was time for everyone’s favorite part of any distillery visit: the tasting. Thomas was great, allowing us to taste the full range of Stadaconé products and not rushing us at all. It helped that we were the last tour of the evening.
Stadaconé’s primary spirit is gin, which they offer in a few different varieties, including Blue, Red, and Black.
The Blue gin is arboreal, featuring flavors from the ground and a slight blue tint from a natural dye. The Red gin uses cranberries to a similar effect.
As we tasted, Thomas also gave us individual ingredients to smell.
We also tasted their gingrias, which use real fruit juice, plus candy liqueurs based on local favorites, Maynard’s. I loved the peach flavored one, as well as a final bonus drink, a peach slushie.
Book a Distillerie Stadaconé tour and tasting here
Note: I visited Distillerie Stadaconé as part of the Quebec City Privilege Card.
Address: 235 2e St, Québec City, Quebec G1L 2T2, Canada (map)
Website
Distillerie & Restaurant Arsenal & Co
Distillerie Arsenal & Co. is a new Quebec City distillery. It gets its name from the former World War II arsenal that once occupied its buildings.
The distillery offers tours and cocktail-making classes, plus it’s also a cocktail bar and restaurant.
The bar and restaurant have an extensive cocktail menu that includes gin and tonics, fruity cocktails, refreshing drinks, sours, robust cocktails, eccentric creations, classics, and non-alcoholic options.
After an excellent brunch, I went on a tour and tasting, which included a brief version of their cocktail classes.
The tour started in the distillery shop, which has a wide variety of not just their spirits (including gin, whiskey, rum, and liqueurs), but also other drinks-related ingredients and accessories.
My tour guide, Champlain, was well-versed in not just the history of the distillery, but all of Quebec City. He actually helped design the tour and is in charge of visits and mixology classes. His background as a history teacher and a communications major is helpful for all of the above.
Arsenal & Co. has really embraced the history of this building. The tour began with a video and details about the history of the building, which has seen many uses over the years.
After first being a railroad property, it then became an arsenal during World War II, followed by a Goodyear factory. In true Canadian fashion, it produced hockey pucks, not tires. After years of abandonment, Arsenal & Co. has restored the property to be a beautiful distillery, bar, and restaurant.
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Then we headed into the main part of the distillery, which has a nice upstairs viewing platform above the beautiful copper stills, along with lots of information about distilling.
My tasting was interspersed throughout these distillery rooms, which is a nice way not to be trying strong spirits immediately after each other.
I tried the 13 botanical gin, which uses ingredients associated with all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, all produced in Quebec.
I especially enjoyed the Liqueur 44, which is a Swiss-inspired orange and coffee liquor that can be either consumed on ice or as an ingredient in cocktails. It sounds especially great in a whiskey cocktail.
Then it was time to head to the cellar, which is filled with barrels. Arsenal & Co. purchased Distillery St. Laurent, a whisky producer, so their current stock is a result of this acquisition.
They are currently in the process of distilling their own whiskies, but given the long lead time (which includes a minimum of 3 years of oak barrel aging), these won’t be ready for a few years.
Uniquely amongst whisky-producing countries, in Canada, most of these barrels are actually stored outside. I was surprised that they could be so exposed to the elements, but as long as each barrel is exposed to the same number of winters and summers, balance is maintained.
In the barrel room, I tried one of their rums, which was inspired by Spain, as well as a St. Laurent 3 Grain Whisky.
This room also had a cool visualization of the Angel’s Share, including the amount lost to evaporation and color changes. I’ve heard about this on other distillery tours, of course, but I’d never seen it so well-presented.
The final part of my tour included a visit to the impressive cocktail class room. This room has up to 15 bartending stations, but can accommodate even more people than that. Workshops are bookable through the distillery website.
After a quick demo, I tried their blueberry gin gimlet, which was refreshing and fruity, and a great way to end my tour and tasting.
Book an Arsenal & Co Distillery tour and tasting here
Note: I visited Arsenal & Co. as a guest of the local Quebec Économusée program.
Address: 1195 Taillon St, Québec City, Quebec G1N 3V2, Canada (map)
Website
Apikol – Distillery & Meadery
If you’re interested in good drinks and local agriculture, Quebec City’s Apikol Distillery & Meadery is an excellent place to visit for a “from the bee to the bottle” tour and tasting.
Thanks to its urban beehives that are home to 2 million bees, it’s the largest employer in Quebec. I somehow didn’t spot it on the way in, but the distillery’s wall actually has an exit for the bees that live in the small hive in the building.
From here, these bees gather nectar and pollen from the surrounding St. Roch neighborhood before returning to make honey.
The neighborhood was home to Canada’s first distillery, so there is a long tradition here. The history of using honey for alcohol production goes back even further. Humans first produced drinks from honey at least 20,000 years ago. This was the predecessor to the mead we know today. But as we would quickly learn, there’s much more to honey drinks than just mead.
Our tour started off in the bee room. Fred, the owner and apiarist, is a funny and knowledgeable guy. We learned all about bees and honey production before we moved on to the distillery room. It’s the first distillery making alcohol out of urban agriculture.
We learned all about the fermentation and distillation process, as well as the products produced by Apikol.
Then it was time to head to the tasting room to try these drinks! If you don’t have time for a tour or one isn’t scheduled, you can also stop in for a tasting and shopping. They even have cocktails available.
Their product line includes mead, gin (which utilizes locally-produced juniper berries and botanicals), vodka, and eau de vie.
Eau de vie is a spirit made from caramelized honey plus rum yeast, which is then aged in American white oak barrels. It’s rum-like, but isn’t called that since it’s not made from sugarcane.
As one might expect, Apikol is an eco-conscious business. Not only do they show care for the environment and their bees, but they even use glass bottles that have no sticker labels or paper. You can return the bottle for $3 to be reused, or reuse it yourself. Fred noted that they make especially good bottles for maple syrup, which is sold locally in cans.
Book an Apikol – Distillery & Meadery tour and tasting here
Address: 627 Boulevard Charest E, Québec, QC G1K 3J5, Canada (map)
Website
Cassis Monna & Filles
Blackcurrant is a fruit that I was aware of due to having spent time in the United Kingdom. Banned for a long time in the United States, it just wasn’t on my radar otherwise. So for many people, the products at Cassis Monna & Filles will be flavors they’ve never had before.
Cassis Monna & Filles makes a wide variety of blackcurrant and other products, including several alcoholic drinks.
I visited their beautiful home as part of a day trip to Ile De Orleans, which I highly recommend doing since the island has many excellent food and drink producers.
The facility has a sprawling lawn that I could easily spend all day on, enjoying the view until sunset. There’s also a bar, a restaurant, a dairy bar, a shop, and a production demo area.
We started off with an amazing blackcurrant sangria that features their wine.
We also tasted their award-winning blackcurrant liqueur. And this isn’t just some small award either – it received a prestigious Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
They also produce gin and vodka.
With all these drinks, you need some food. We were covered there as well with some incredible pastries, especially the blackcurrant and cheese danish.
And on a warm day, there’s nothing better than their soft-serve ice cream topped with blackcurrant syrup.
If you like great local food and drinks, there’s no better place to go than Ile de Orleans and Cassis Monna & Filles.
Book an Ile de Orleans tour that includes a stop at Cassis Monna & Filles here
Address: 1225 Chem. Royal, Saint-Pierre, QC G0A 4E0, Canada (map)
Website
In addition to distilleries, Quebec City is home to several great cocktail bars. Quebec City also has lots of quality breweries.
Here are some great Quebec City tours.
