On Thursday evening May 19 Brome Lake Books will host Peter McAuslan for a cinq a sept launch of his new book BREWING BETTER BEER.
Peter McAuslan, founder of McAuslan Brewing, has published an extensive memoir on the path that brought him and his wife Ellen Bounsall from the founding of Quebec’s foremost craft brewery through the company’s growth until the sale of the brewery some 25 years later. In 2017, Mr. McAuslan received the Order of Canada for being at the vanguard of the craft brewing industry and for his close ties to the community and support of the arts.
Entitled Brewing Better Beer: The Story of St-Ambroise and the Birth of Quebec Craft Brewing, the book traces the Lachine, Quebec, native from the arrival of his Scottish ancestors and their subsequent lives in Montreal. The ups and downs of the business, the challenges of partnerships and exhilarating moments are vividly portrayed, as are the joys of creating world class beer and reinventing classic beer styles forgotten by contemporary brewers. Colourful characters the couple engaged with create a tapestry to an ever-changing background. References to historical events of their times and the past shaped the author’s awareness of how their brewing adventures fit into the Quebec and broader panorama of brewing history. “When I began the book, I thought this was a local story,” Peter McAuslan said. “Beer is always local. But it proved to be multidimensional both in time and place. What I set out to record was a personal business story set in Montreal from 1987 to 2013. It is in fact part of a much broader tale with roots deep in time involving international commerce, the impact of hobbyists, the role of politics, the evolution of markets and the power of consumers encouraged and supportive of individuals and their passions.”
