Josuah Boucher was the production manager at the Siboire microbrewery for several years. It was when the microbrewery was looking for fruit for its beers that he discovered the Bernier-Roberge farm located on Moulton Hill Road in Sherbrooke.
At the time, Lyne Roberge and Michel Bernier were owners of this farm where we found asparagus and plums. “There was nothing here in 2010. They [Lyne et Michel] bought. They planted the plum trees and asparagus around 2012-2013,” says Mathieu Larochelle, Lyne’s son, who is involved in the cider farm project.
The first vintages from the Moulton Hill cider farm were recently bottled. (Moulton Hill Cider Farm)
Over the years, a collaboration was born between Michel Bernier, Lyne Roberge and Josuah Boucher. The latter explains that his brother, Félix Boucher, and he had long had the idea of starting a brewing farm. Various constraints, notably to grow grains and hops, quietly directed them towards the cider farm project.
The land of the Bernier-Roger farm, the ideal place
The land of the Bernier-Roberge farm was the ideal place for them since all the equipment for harvesting the fruit was already on site. In 2021, the clearing of the land began, explains Josuah Boucher. It was in May 2023 that the first apple trees were planted.
Josuah Boucher, Félix Boucher, Mathieu Larochelle, Lyne Roberge and Michel Bernier took over operations of the farm which now bears the name Moulton Hill cider farm.
“It’s a great project. It’s a continuation of what we started.”
— Michel Bernier
The Bernier-Roberge farm has built its reputation in particular thanks to its asparagus. These vegetables are capable of living for around twenty years, explains Mathieu Larochelle, mentioning that those found on the farm are already more than a dozen years old.
“We will keep the asparagus for a few more years, but we will not keep it until the end of its life. We risk also putting in other fruit trees and we have other projects,” emphasizes Josuah Boucher. Currently, the farm produces between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds of asparagus annually. “It’s a nice income early in the year, but it’s also difficult to get people to pick them.”
A kiosk was built inside a horse trailer that was revamped from A to Z. (Moulton Hill Cider Farm)
Think ahead
The team is already thinking about future plantations. “There is an old pine plantation that we are trying to remove to start working the soil again. We also have room for other apple and pear trees,” explains Josuah Boucher.
In addition to cider, they hope to develop products made 100% from plums such as sparkling natural plums or natural plum wines. “An apple tree takes five or seven years to reach its full potential. We must always think ahead and plant every year so that in ten years we really have a good inventory of apples to make good volumes of cider,” he notes.
So far, the farm has more than twenty different varieties of apple and pear trees. Aronia and elderberries were also planted, as were tulips. They will try to optimize their garden in the coming years.
First vintages in subcontracting
The first two vintages of the cider farm were produced as a subcontractor at Cidrerie Compton and Jus Sec in Waterloo. “We went for the harvest, the press and everything. In both places, we work at each stage. We made the cider from A to Z, these are really our vintages except made in their facilities,” explains Josuah Boucher.
They hope that the next vintages will be made in their own facility. However, delays are being caused as they are awaiting authorization from the City of Sherbrooke in order to obtain their permits.
“Plan B will be to remake vintages as a subcontractor. That would not be ideal, because we want to make a few more vintages,” emphasizes Mr. Boucher.
The team has been working on the project for several years. (Moulton Hill Cider Farm)
As soon as they obtain the authorizations from the City of Sherbrooke, they will complete the installation of the presses and vats in their premises.
Bottles of the first vintage will be available for tasting at the Soif de cidre event to be held in Montreal. They should be available in some Estrie retailers starting in August.
Favor the local
Entrepreneurs want to promote the local market. “The goal is for people to come here and see the project,” says Josuah Boucher.
Various activities will be organized in the coming months. They hope that Moulton Hill Road could eventually become an “agritourism artery” while several such projects are in development in the area.
Around 2,300 bottles were produced in the first vintages.
