Back around 1700 the entire population of New France was somewhere about 17,000 people, roughly the equivalent of say... what Point St. Charles is now and only maybe half of those were living in Montreal, so we're talking a small, lonely town.But thanks to the Charon family, Montrealers at least had a place to drown their sorrows.
This building at Youville and Saint Pierre was the site of the first-ever brewery in Montreal, set up by Jean-Francois Charon, sieur de la Barre, who came to Montreal in 1684.
He made a lot of money fast and four years later joined with a pair of brothers Pierre and Jean Lebert and Jean Fredin to built a hospital. They wanted it to be and elementary school, old folks hospital and an art/professional school, so that's what this spot became, along with a bar.
In 1692, they got permission to open their brewery and they produced their first batch of beer came out in 1693, thus making this little spot of Old Montreal a buzzin', hoppin' corner by then surely with a juke box playing Zep and big furred pimps stomping fat heels onto wood floors while shaking loose ashes below.
And the reputation of the HoneyBrew with a hint of melon and cinnamon became, no doubt, a big attraction for Frenchmen who have been streaming here ever since in quest of getting a sip of that sacred delicious brew.
It was not the first microbrewery in New France, however. Jean Talon founded a brewery in 1663, in Champlain, Quebec City. It burned down three times and was rebuilt even bigger each time. Americans destroyed it in 1775 but in 1855 Joseph Knight Boswell got a permit to expand his brewery and during excavation they found the remains of Talon's brewery. That spot served as the reception hall for the Dow brewery, which spent a ton on restoration. It was a big tourist draw in the capital 50 years ago, not sure if it is still.
*Source: Petit Journal 29 Jan. 1961