The Land Hosting the Distillery: Time for Research and Choices

It took us 10 months to find the ideal place to set up our distillery!

The process began following our trip to Scotland. Upon our return to Quebec, we identified the necessary criteria for our project:

1. We need agricultural land, because we must grow barley, the base grain of the whisky we want to create.

2. We need a water source.

3. We want to settle in the Eastern Townships (Estrie), while not being too far away from civilization.

Now, all that was left was to find the rare gem!

I invite you to read about our adventures in this post!

2020

The adventure began on June 30, 2020, at a maple grove on Sugar Loaf Pond Road. With the help of my brother-in-law, Mathieu, we carried out our first reconnaissance mission on a large piece of land!

It got off to a bad start; we've seen better water sources, and despite the beautiful mature maples, there was no space for the agricultural side of the project.

We decided to contact a great real estate agent who lives in Potton, Marie-Elaine Hvizdak. She quickly presented us with potential sites.

On July 17, we visited a property on White Road.

This place was mainly used to grow hay, and the land has even hosted cows in the past!

The stream on the site is fantastic, but there isn't enough agricultural land for the distillery's needs. At least we were able to enjoy the spectacular forest during our visit!

We got closer to our goal on July 20, on Mansonville Road, on a plot that contains 20 hectares of open land and 40 hectares of forest.

The Missisquoi River crosses the property, situated very close to the village of Mansonville, with the added bonus of a beautiful view of Mount Owl’s Head! However, it lacked the right water source!

On July 21, we got closer to the American border, up on a mountain, with a small house hidden in the woods.

Despite the rustic charm that caught our attention, there was no land for our agricultural projects or options to expand our activities.

A month later, on September 20, my father-in-law Denis and I headed out to Fitzsimmon Road, to a beautiful agricultural property with a lot of history!

First, the view of Mount Owl’s Head and Mount Bear caught our eye. Then a few surprises awaited us: the land hosted an old sugar shack, a true Ali Baba's cave in the barn, and finally, at the top of the site, a cell phone relay tower!

Despite the spectacular view, there was a catch: the current owner wanted to keep his house, which would require an administrative delay to submit a request to the Agricultural Land Protection Commission before any sale.

2021

We weren't going to slow down the pace of our search right in the middle of winter! On January 24, with my brother-in-law Sam, we put on our snowshoes for an excursion in the snow on Airport Road.

The land had character! It was used for grazing cows in the past, so it came with a stable and several buildings, including a grain silo, still standing! Here, the Missisquoi River winds through the land, heading toward the US border.

However, despite its potential, especially for raising livestock, there are many steep slopes, making it difficult to cultivate grains.

Things started to move! On March 19, around Route 245, near Bolton, we visited a superb plot of land less than ten minutes from Highway 10! We contacted the real estate agent, only to find out that this land included Peasley Pond and parcels of protected land, along with multiple easements (servitudes). Simply put, easements complicate the purchase of a property because they force us to accommodate certain uses. For example, some easements involved the presence of Hydro-Québec infrastructure on the land.

On April 21, it was time to make a choice! Two properties stood out:

• The one in Mansonville that we visited in July

• The one in Bolton, from March

We made an offer lower than the asking price for the Bolton property, given the complexity of the easements. The owners quickly rejected the offer.

Then, we made an offer for the land on Mansonville Road, which was accepted!

We have just taken a massive step forward in our project to create the best whisky in the world!

-Martin