A flagship company in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region is in financial turmoil: the Distillerie du St. Laurent has just made a proposal to its creditors. The value of accumulated debt exceeds $13 million.

The St. Laurent Distillery is known for its gins, which are on sale in the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) network, but also for its magnificent facilities in Pointe-au-Père, in Rimouski, a creation of the architect Pierre Thibault. These new premises, including production spaces and cellars, were inaugurated last year. Completion of this project is valued at $11.5 million. The new Distillery house has a spectacular tasting room overlooking the river.

The local newspaper Le Soir cites among the main creditors, Investissement Québec, Desjardins Venture Capital, Canada Economic Development, but also the contractor in the region, Marcel Charest, who carried out the construction work for the new buildings.

The St. Laurent Distillery was founded in 2015 and quickly bet on regionality to distinguish itself in an ocean of gin: that of Rimouski was going to be made with seaweed directly from the river opposite.

Since then, the company has expanded its offer with whiskeys, also made with local ingredients.

With these new facilities also came a café bar and a terrace for the beautiful summer days. For the moment, the establishment is still open. The owners of the Distillery preferred not to comment on the situation on Friday.

This bad news comes in a difficult climate for small Quebec distilleries.

In a recent brief submitted as part of the pre-budget exercises, the Union québécoise des microdistilleries sounded the alarm: according to it, a quarter of artisanal distilleries in Quebec plan to close their doors in the coming months while two-thirds are in deficit.

The causes of this fragility are multiple, but we note the proliferation of local microdistilleries, which has created enormous pressure on the market, especially gin.