You wo n’t find out very manysugar shacksaround the globe , that much is for sure . It ’s not something you’re able to franchise , and it would n’t work in a even city . You ’ll never overhear a conversation of two the great unwashed deciding between going to a Starbucks or a sugar shack . That ’s because it ’s entirely about the experience .
Cabane à sucre in French , boodle shacks can only exist in the specific climates where maple syrup is construct . They ’re wizardly places where tin can cans are hooked onto tree diagram and maple syrup is harvested like field of crops . Here , the best breakfast foods on the face of the ground are produced and prepared . It ’s a Disneyland for your gustatory modality buds ; and just like confabulate Disneyland , visiting a sugar hutch is quite the spectacle .
It’s surrounded by the woods
Deep in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood of Rigauld , Quebec , you ’ll obtain theSucrerie de la Montagne . It ’s not the oldest sugar shack in existence , nor is it necessarily the bad or most popular one . But I ’ve never bump a better one in my life as a native Montrealer .
But like many other lucre shack , calling it " tuck away " is putting its remote location thinly . It ’s a solid hr from the heart of Montreal . It ’s one of those places where the moment you pull up up , after driving through dense forest , you mechanically know you ’re in the right place , and you ’re in for something limited .
The founder is a giant personality
It is guaranteed that you have never encountered a man quite like founding father Pierre Faucher before in your life . He ’s like a curious blend of Santa Claus , the Most Interesting Man from the Dos Equis commercial , and Paul Bunyan . Everything about him is memorable ; for starters , there ’s the whiskers – so iconic , it may as well have its own article . He tog the part , in big boots and large white gown and topcoat . He has use up more natural Sir Francis Bacon in the few time that we have met than I can even think back . He may own and maneuver the facility as a business , but he ’s just as much a part of the experience as the maple trees or anything else .
" I was born into the syrup , " says Stefan Faucher . Such is the liveliness of Stefan , Pierre ’s son , who now operatesSucrerie de la Montagnealongside his Father-God . Stefan is what you ’d wait Pierre ’s son to be : a big , burly guy with a beard . When he talks about the sugar hovel , you’re able to see the pride and joy beam out of his eyes . After all , he was born into the syrup .
It’s a village of log cabins
Sucrerie de la Montagneis adjust up like a small-scale village . The entrance is fundamentally an enormous grunge parking lot environ by log fences . There ’s a semi - domesticated beast roam about ( her name is Loulou – loup is French for wolf – and she was groom by Pierre ) . Beyond the fence is a ocean of barns , often filled with gymnastic horse . As you pass on the entry good deal , you see several other cabin . One is a endowment shop . Another is where bread is baked and maple sirup is made . There are a few more cabins as you continue upwards , leading you to the dining Granville Stanley Hall .
Everything is either Sir Henry Joseph Wood or stone in the dining hall . There are long wooden tables with bench filling the room , with a huge flack place in the back of the way and a lowly stage where bands often do . Pictures of Pierre can be found much anywhere you take care . The whole place is decorated dead and sincerely make eating there something special , which is what sugar shacks are all about , of course .
It’s a massive f*cking feast
The solid food is , without question , the main issue . Everything about the sugar shack is fantastic , but the meal is the material reason you visit . If you think you ’ve had a great breakfast before then , you are gravely mistaken . You may claim to know the best breakfast place in town , but that ’s like saying the guy at your local YMCA is the best basketball player ever and you ’ve never seen Michael Jordan before . candidly , you ’ll just sound stupid .
The all - you - can - use up banquet is a huge spread of egg , sausage balloon , ham , mashed murphy , meatballs , gist pie , beans , and the thickest , crispiest , most delicious bacon you could guess . A slew of homemade condiments and all the smart maple syrup you could ever dream of lines the tables .
For dessert , servers bring out sugar pie and pancakes . ( That is n’t the only sweet – we ’ll get to the " tire sur la neige " in a turn . ) The whole affair is beyond delicious ( and short sleep inducing ) .
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… with lots of alcohol
Yeah , you could order a shabu of wine-coloured or a beer , but you ’d be doing yourself a disservice . As the old saying go bad , " When in Rome , do as the Romans . " To go to theSucrerie de la Montagne(or most wampum shacks ) and not try on one of the maple - flavour alcohols would be a big mistake . There ’s maple wine , maple sangaree , maple whisky . Booze is good ( duh ) , but roll in the hay what makes it even better ? Adding maple .
… but it’s really all about the maple syrup.
As a general rule , matter usually sample the best when you get it from the source . That ’s never been truer than with maple syrup direct from the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . It does n’t go directly from the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to the top of your flapcake , though . There ’s an intricate process behind the creation of the maple sirup , first extract from the trees and heated up in a large , particularly crafted vat . That give rise a hot maple water - type pith , quite delicious in itself . From there , it ’s care for and ingredient are add together to make the perfect maple syrup .
The finale: tire sur la neige
For anyone who ’s never had tyre sur la neige , this might be unmanageable to explain . fundamentally , smart maple taffy is poured into a trough of icy snow and the taffy thawing and sticks to the snow . From there , you take a ice lolly spliff , placing it into one conclusion of the taffy . Then , you roll the maple flip up so that your popsicle stick is now cross in a beehive of delicious , frosty taffy . Sucrerie de la Montagneis known for lead things 12 measure further by pour an additional farsighted service of taffy into the snow and then wrapping it around a hockey stick . And it really does n’t get any more Canadian than that .
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