The story of Laurentide Beer: Created by nationalism, revived by nostalgia

Laurentide beer is an icon of Quebec’s brewing scene. Its story starts in 1962, when Molson decided to tap into the province’s national spirit by launching a distinctly Quebec beer.

Exclusively produced in Quebec, Laurentide was created specifically for the province and wasn’t available anywhere else in Canada. Molson’s strategy was to create “regional” products to get closer to its clientele. That led to Laurentide entering the Quebec market amid the Quiet Revolution (remember the Maîtres chez nous or “Masters of our own house” slogan from the election of that same year) that drove at the heart of Quebec nationalism. The Laurentide label directly targeted Quebec’s identity.

Why name it Laurentide? Because it evoked a great northward escape from Montreal and into the largest segment of Quebec’s beer market. The name “Laurentide” is significant to the market and was most likely chosen because of the socio-political context of the time. A large nearby population, the reference to Laurentians, and the northern wilderness—all of these elements anchored the brand in local identity and sparked its inspiration.

The marketing of the time also reflects the culture of that era. Pierre Clermont, a specialist in the history of microbreweries, explains: Breweries in the 1960s used comedians for advertising. Père Gédéon (the actor Doris Lussier) was used by Okeefe, Olivier Guimond (Ti-zoune) for Labatt, and the Jérolas (Jean Lapointe and Jérome Lemay) for Molson.

A popped top, followed by a fizzle

The Laurentide brewery experienced mixed success. Some celebrated how, at long last, they had a drinkable beer made in Quebec, while others described it as a marketing ploy. In a 2007 blog post, journalist Patrick Lagacé claimed that one of the TV ads for this beer in 1986 was “the most kitschy, the ugliest, and worst-performed beer ad in the history of beer ads.”

It’s often criticized for supposedly just slapping a Quebec label on a regular Molson beer—a claim many seasoned enthusiasts vehemently reject. People also often thought that Molson’s Canadian beer was a version of Laurentide made for outside Quebec, but in fact, they are two different beers—Canadian being a lager and Laurentide an ale.

This confusion around the two types of beers is understandable. Unlike the original version from the early 1960s, the revamped Laurentide resembles more of an international-style lager.

In fact, at some point in the mid-1980s, Laurentide shifted its approach. According to Mario d’Eer, a beer historian and expert, for a long time the terms ale and lager were used solely for marketing by large breweries, regardless of the yeast used.

Another urban legend suggests that Molson Canadian and Laurentide are actually the same recipe, something that’s has been denied by its brewer, Molson-Coors.

The truth remains unclear as Laurentide’s recipe has been changed several times, but the debate is far from over. Perhaps due to intense competition from microbreweries or a shift in consumer taste, the beer was finally pulled from the shelves around 2000.

Revived by nostalgia

By 2012, it remained available in some bars in a large quille format. Thanks to a petition, however, Laurentide made its return to the shelves in 2015: Éric Côté, founder of the Facebook group “Juste de la Bière,” gathered 1,000 signatures in a petition to Molson to bring back the famous beer. To everyone’s surprise, Molson agreed to the request.

In 2017, just in time for Montreal’s 375th anniversary, Molson reintroduced the beer in response to a citizen-led petition, propelled by a wave of nostalgia and releasing no less than 120,000 cases of Laurentide.

Pierre-Olivier Bussières is the host of the Le Temps d’une Bière podcast, producer of Hoppy History and is editor-in-chief of Le Temps d’une Bière. He has been writing about beer and beer markets since 2022.