Golden Lion, Quebec’s oldest craft brewery, serves timeless British ales since 1986. Located in Lennoxville, this charming pub blends history, tradition, and legendary brews like Lion’s Pride.
Quebec’s oldest craft brewery is oddly unassuming. It’s a large heritage home located directly on College St, a stone’s throw from Bishop’s University and near the city of Sherbrooke. In winter, when the terrace is closed, you wouldn’t think this was one of the country’s first craft breweries. Nor would you think that it has been brewing one of the country’s finest British-style ales non-stop for almost forty years.
It felt like visiting a church: you could feel centuries of English tradition come to life on the wooden walls and old paintings, among a few bingo posters and the obligatory public information billboard.
I met Stan on a sunny Saturday, at 11 am. The bar was silent and still. Stan wore a simple checked jacket and a cap. Large grin, big eyes and easy smile. He’s an old-fashioned gentleman with a taste for the classics. He has been bartending at the Golden Lion since he was 16, and took over the establishment a few years ago.
It wasn’t long before we were both sitting at the bar, pint in hand. Stan looked disapprovingly at my choice of beer: « You really should have picked Lion’s Pride first ». And here I thought his Bitter was a top choice. « Oh that’s too bad, you won’t be able to enjoy the flavors of our Pride ». Of course I had no idea he was referring to one of the best lagers in the province.
What’s striking about this establishment is that it is in many ways the anti-craft brewery: an ostensibly British pub with an unwavering commitment to classic English styles. You won’t find an IPA here, no sir. I just don’t like the taste of them.
« They are not real beers to me. Sure, some of them taste great, but when I am thinking about beer, the only beers I like to drink are English beers, and that’s what we have been brewing since the start. » No hype, no trend, no release party. The old ale that is strong does not wither!
How It Started
« Nobody back then ever considered brewing beer. There was Molson, Labatt and O’Keiffe. That was it. «
Lennoxville had about nine bars in the 1970s. Rough railroad bars that weren’t exactly the kind of places Bishop University professors wanted to sit at. Especially visiting English professors. « My father was a university professor, and he had travelled extensively to England. Him and two friends – also professors at Bishop – decided to try something new : making real English ale. »
I thought, what a gamble it was to start a brewery back then. People only knew commercial beer. How were you going to sell this to the public? Stan shrugs away any concerns: « We knew it was going to work because we already had the clients, we knew we were going to make good beer, and we knew it could work because of Traller Pub. »
The Traller Pub is big business. The name may not ring a bell today, but back in 1982, the opening of this craft brewery was a major event. Located in Horseshow Bay, British Columbia, it was Canada’s very first craft brewery.
« If you were allowed in British Columbia, you were allowed to open anywhere in the country. So we decided to do this here. If there was ever a place in Lennoxville where this would work, it was here. In addition to my father’s love of English beer, I had also had some experience by then. I had bartended in Alberta and traveled to Europe and my first stop in England was a pub. »
« My dad and his partners said : this is an interesting concept, let’s do it. We had bought the old Texaco Garage for the parking. It just became a storage for broken down tables and bar stools. We had the infrastructure, locals, students and professors. We were highly confident that it would work. It was more a question of which beer to brew.
Unanimously, it was a British Beer. At the time, Ringwood Brewery was a legendary U.S. Brewery at the time, great scenerey and former hunting ground for Henry. So I went there to learn about brewing. «
Lion’s Pride First!
My mother is turning 90 this year. Her secret : The Lion’s Pride.
The brewery regularly brewed around six beers. Why? Because Stan can’t make beer he won’t drink, and he won’t drink IPA. But that doesn’t mean the brewery is stubbornly stuck in the past. Take good old watermelon blueberry ale for example: this beer is light years ahead of the standard British pint, but Stan was curious to see if they could pull it off. It was supposed to be an exclusive beer, but the response was shocking and it quickly became one of the best-selling beers all year round. Today, there’s a raspberry variant of the beer.
But there is nothing quite like Lion’s Pride, the flagship beer of Golden Lion’s Pub. It’s a golden blonde ale that defies convention. On the surface, it’s more or less in the usual range of slightly bitter, very biscuity notes, but as soon as it touches your tongue, you get this overwhelming sensation of fullness. Something like a crisp Czech beer, but in a more intense way, and with a long-lasting, very pleasant aftertaste.
How It All Started
« Back in the days when you started to learn about brewing, you went to Vermont, because that’s where the great breweries were. So that’s what I did with an internship. At first, they throw you in the mashtun and get you to dig it out with a shovel. It’s all muscle work, but then you start loving it, because you get to play with the material. »
« It was nice on a cool day, as you could feel the warmth of the mash and breathe in the aromas. As soon as you’d cleaned up, you went into town to try the local breweries. So, during the day, you learned how to brew, and after work, you learned what you wanted to brew! »
« Two beers appealed to me: Ruddles County and brown NewCastle. I met Allan Pugsly, an expert brewer who has helped create breweries in New England, and we talked about what we liked. We sat down in a pub. I was looking for a mid-range brewery. Allan asked me frankly: What do you want to brew? I replied something between a caramel beer and a medium brown ale. So Allan ordered three different beers and started mixing them. That’s how it happened. »
« The students thought: what kind of beer is this? Is it dark brown? Fortunately, there were businessmen and professors who had traveled, and they had a taste of what beer could be like on the international scene. It was from this crowd that we started to get loyal customers. The camera crew filmed us. Then tourists. »
« For visitors, you always Start with the Lights. Blond, Amber, Pride, Bitter, and the Stout. »
Terry has been brewing Lion Pride for 38 years.
What to do at the Lion’s Pub?
The crowd is everyone. Pub for public. It’s a place where you come in and talk to everyone, especially the horse bar. Students, teachers, support staff, CEGEP. Lennoxville is all about education, so there’s a lot of curiosity. The most British pub in the region.
At night, the place rolls : On Tuesdays nights, we have the dart club, then it goes into Radio Bingo for a local community English Radio Station. And we also have a big crowd for Bingo. Still on the Tuesday, you have an open mic or accoustic tuesday. Wednesday is Wing Night, with a kick ass Suicide Sauce. Thursday is DJ night : full trasher night. Friday is karaoke night. Back to the DJ on Saturday. Closed on Sunday and Monday.
« On Tuesday evenings, we have the darts club, then Radio Bingo for a local English-language radio station. Bingo is also very popular. Tuesdays are also open mic or acoustic Tuesdays. Wednesday is Wing night, with a kick-ass Suicide Sauce. Thursday’s DJ night: full trasher night. Friday is karaoke night. Back to the DJ on Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. »
Hours: Open Tuesday to Saturday, 3:00 p.m. until close.
Dine-In & Takeout: Serving up delicious eats Wednesday to Saturday, 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 🍔
Pierre-Olivier Bussières : Editor-in-Chief or Le Temps d’une Bière and producer of Hoppy History. Pierre has previously written for The Diplomat, Global Risk Insights and the NATO Association of Canada. For the past two years, Pierre has been writing on the history of alcohol from antiquity to modern times, with a special focus on the role of craft breweries in North America.
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