La Brasserie du Cantou is the story of two friends attached to Aubrac, who decided to change their professional lives to launch into the exciting world of craft beer. Their challenge? Offering quality beer, inspired by American breweries and made in Aveyron on the Aubrac plateau. I will take you with me to the village of Curières to meet Gabin and Lilian, the founders of the Brewery.
A story of moss and friendship
How about we introduce ourselves to begin with?
Aurore (interviewer): Who are you ?
Gabin: I'm Gabin Balitrand, I'm 30 years old and I'm from Espalion in the Lot valley. I've wandered around quite a bit in the meantime, but I live in Espalion now. Before, I worked in Toulouse in aeronautics for Airbus. I trained as an engineer.
Lilian: I'm Lilian Fabre, I'm also 30 years old and I live in Aubrac. I am originally from Soulages-Bonneval, so I have always stayed in Aubrac. And before, I was a sports instructor in Argences-en-Aubrac where I introduced Aubrac to a tourist clientele through sporting activities.
How and where did you meet?
Gabin: Oula oula oula!
Lilian: Well… handball first, back in middle school!
Gabin: Yes, 20 years ago something like that… And afterwards, we were in the same class at high school.
What made you want to create your own beers? What was the trigger?
Gabin: I would say it was when I went on my world tour. I took a gap year and went traveling for a year. I visited lots of different countries and during this year, I thought a lot about what I wanted to do later in my life. Because I already saw myself returning and living in Aveyron, I didn't want to live in Toulouse all my life. Aeronautical engineer in Aveyron is complicated, so I told myself that I had to find other opportunities and at the same time, I always wanted to create my own company.
During our world tour with a friend, we visited a first craft brewery and I said to myself “that’s cool, I like that” and then I bought some books. When a subject fascinates me, I like to explore it as much as possible, so I stored up a lot of knowledge and when I came home I said to myself “this is what I want to do with my life, I want to make beer , in Aveyron. I very quickly realized that it was impossible to do this alone, because there was too much work, so I turned directly to Lilian. I explained the project to him and asked him if he was up for this adventure with me and he said yes straight away!
Lilian: Yes and for me the trigger was Gabin who came to see me! [laughs]
Why did you choose Lilian as a partner? What role do you both have in the company?
Gabin: He has a lot of qualities that I don’t have [laughs]. So we complement each other a lot. We also know each other very well because we have been best friends for a very long time. I have other friends too, but we both have strong temperaments and for me that’s a positive point. I need to work with someone who has a strong character, because I have a strong character too! It brings me a lot of things and when I thought about the project for me it was obvious: Lilian or no one else.
Lilian: Yes, and it’s also a question of different functions, because making beer is good, selling it is something else and you can’t do everything. I am unable to make it at the moment and I hope to succeed...
Gabin: It will come, it will come!
Lilian: And conversely, by manufacturing you cannot sell your beer. In addition, I have always been here and invested in the associative sector, so I know a lot of people in Aubrac. This is a positive point when you are looking to market a product and it is a plus if you already start with a few addresses. I am in charge of marketing and also distribution, and Gabin the other parts: recipes, manufacturing, and a very good part of the administration! [laughs]
A question of identity
About the brewery and your beers
How long have you been preparing to launch this activity? When was the official launch of your brewery?
Gabin: So, we've been working on the project for 2 years, building it and knowing that we're going to do it while keeping our respective old jobs. I left my job Airbus in January 2023 and since that day I have been full-time on the project. Lilian continued to work on the side until the end of August and joined the project full time at the beginning of September. The real start of the activity, where we started brewing the beers for the first time, was at the end of November 2023 and the marketing of the beers was on December 22 at exactly 16 p.m.! [laughs]
Aurora: It was tight timing before Christmas!
Gabin: Oh yes, it was hot!
Why did you choose the name “Brasserie du Cantou” and what does it mean?
Gabin: So for the entire marketing communications part of the company, we work with Cindy Regourd who is my sister-in-law and who has a communications agency called Create. We already knew in which direction we wanted to direct our communication, towards which lexical field we wanted to go, but we couldn't find THE thing that we really liked. She therefore made several proposals to us and when she proposed to us Cantou Brewery It seemed obvious to us, well I don't know what you think of it Lilian?
Lilian: Yes, that’s it, we wanted a simple word that reminds us geographically of where we are located.
Aurora: And what does the word “Cantou” mean for those who don’t know?
Gabin: So “le Cantou” was the fireside in the old stone houses back home. It was the central room, the part that heated the house, the living space of the house. This is where we met to chat, to eat, to warm up...
Lilian: It was the place to share a moment.
Gabin: Yes, quite a friendly place. We find that these are values that we would like to convey so it fits quite well.
Why did you choose the names “Tourmente, Estive and Boralde” for your range of beers?
Gabin: We wanted the same lexical field that speaks. We are proud to be from here, from Aveyron and Aubrac. We want to show that people here know how to do things well!
Lilian: Yes and above all the names are linked to the recipe of each beer. For example for “La Tourmente” we can find lots of reports there: what we call the storm on the Aubrac in winter is the wind, we can't see at 5 meters and the beer which corresponds to this name is rather murky, we can't see through it. It is also very strong in taste and in winter the climate is harsher so we need a pick-me-up. “L’Estive” on the contrary develops aromas of flowers, in summer or spring when we are in the summer pastures we smell these numerous flowers of the plateau. And “la Boralde” is a very sweet beer like the water that flows over the Aubrac and the water is an important element of the plateau.
Aurore : So this is the range of beer you currently have on sale?
Gabin: This is the permanent range of beer, which we will distribute all year round. We're going to try to have a stock all the time and then we're going to create another range of ephemeral beers that we haven't started yet, but that we're going to start very soon... These will be beers a little more original I would say, to try to get off the beaten track and to introduce other facets of beer. And these are beers that we will brew only once, on a single fermenter and that we will never make again. Unless huge success obviously!
Aurora: And in what packaging are your beers sold?
Gabin: For packaging, we make 33 cl bottles and in April we will offer barrels for professionals, but also for individuals. Even particularly for individuals!
Lilian: For individuals for festive events: weddings, birthdays and so on. And also for the associative aspect on events such as village festivals or concerts, things like that!
Gabin: we want to make printers available. People take kegs from us for their events and we make the tap available, like the distributors do. The difference is that we are not distributors, we are brewers, so that eliminates an intermediary. It’s a short circuit, it’s direct, from producer to consumer!
Why did you choose to make your beers in Curières?
Lilian: The condition of our company was to be established in Aubrac, because it is the country that saw us grow and it is the country that we like to bring to life. So we were looking for premises in Aubrac and one of the first we visited was this one, which had the particularity of having space and being able to accommodate the equipment. Did you see the size of the tanks? They are huge! It was also important to have a small space next door, separate, with a sales and tasting area, as well as an office and above all to be in Aubrac. Afterwards the financial side weighed a little in the balance…
Aurora: Was the fact that the water is pure in Aubrac also a criterion for choosing the location?
Lilian: Water has a huge influence on the taste of the beer, so yes, it is an additional asset for our brewery. But we didn’t choose to settle in Curières because the water there is good. It's a plus.
What are the stages of beer production?
Where does your raw material come from?
Gabin: For Malt we work with La Malterie Occitane which is based in Saint-Sulpice in Tarn. It's a newly created malt house, they only have one type of malt for the moment. So in addition we work with The Château Malterie, which is a Belgian malt house. Ultimately we would like to work exclusively with La Malterie Occitane, when they have developed their business and released several types of Malt. For the hops we work with To hope, a cooperative which is based in Tarn-et-Garonne, but also with a large hop farm called Yakima Chief which is located in the United States. We have no choice, there are hops that only come from the United States if we want to obtain particular aromas. And for the yeasts, a Toulouse laboratory supplies us.
Aurora: These are the closest places you found, right?
Gabin: Exactly. We want to try to work local as much as possible so if it exists locally we use local, if it doesn't exist and well we have to look further afield, but the goal is to be as local as possible .
What do you want to bring that is different? How are your beers different from what’s out there?
Gabin: I really like this question because the spectrum of beers is already very broad: there are beers of many different kinds, tastes and styles. You should know that in Aveyron, we are not a country with a great brewing culture. People, they don’t really know beer so it’s quite standardized. The only beers that we are used to finding, as a general rule, are beers from large manufacturers, so beers that are similar: quite smooth, pasteurized. Our beers are all American-inspired, that is to say with fairly present hops. It can be malt, yeast or hops and we chose for it to be hops. We use lots of kinds of hops, which are quite aromatic, so that’s something new. This is not a new thing in the world of beer but we don't find American beers here, they don't exist or very little.
What dishes do you taste with or offer to taste as an accompaniment to your beers?
Gabin: So we’re going to start with “Estive”, the sweet and flowery beer: it’s the beer that can pair with the most things. I would say that here we are more of a cheese country, so it goes very well with cheeses that we can find here, rather hard cheeses. I was thinking about Laguiole PDO, a Laguiole that is not too old, because this beer is still quite mild, so more of an in-between Laguiole. With the “Tourmente”, I would rather go for dishes with character: a wild boar stew would not go bad, accompanied by a Retortillat* For example. And for the white one, the “Boralde”, a slightly finer, more refined dish. We are a fish country with many beautiful fish, so with a trout it would go very well.
*Retortillat: Aubracian truffade made from potatoes, fresh tome, garlic and parsley.
A promising future
How do you imagine yourself in 10 years?
This year you are offering visits by reservation: what will these take?
Gabin: We want to do a part tour of the premises with first an explanation of the beer manufacturing process by showing our machines and our tanks, and after a small tasting of our range to show a little of what we do. It’s always nice to see the equipment and taste behind it. [laughs]
Lillian: Yes, a welcome time with a presentation of the territory, because we will inevitably have questions about “why we settled there” etc. So a welcome time is important. Then a more specific time on the creation of the beer and above all a friendly time of sharing.
Do you want to obtain labels, prizes, rewards?
Gabin: We'll see, we'll see... I think that for now we're going to concentrate on making beer, good beer. I admit that I have a little trouble with that, but it’s strictly personal. There is a lot of debate around medals and particularly in the world of beer. Having taken a little interest in it, there are beers which are awarded medals and this is not necessarily justified and others which are not and which raises the question. I measure the weight of a medal, so we must not neglect this aspect, in particular the Concours général agricole, the agricultural show in Paris. And there is another competition which is very recognized in France which is the Lyon beer competition. And we’re not there yet, but there is an international competition “World Beer Awards” in the United States, which is the largest brewing competition in the world; but we’ll see that later… [laughs]
Aurora: It could simply be labels like “ Made in Aveyron »?
Gabin: Yes, absolutely of course!
How do you imagine your business in 10 years?
Gabin: Very complicated to imagine yourself in 10 years!
Aurora: So rather in 5 years, or in 2 years?
Gabin: In 2 years it will be good yes! [laughs]. With the current situation, it is difficult to plan ahead. You have to project yourself, you have to create horizons, but it’s very complicated to create accurate horizons. The sliders for this are quite wide. We can imagine having grown enormously or, on the contrary, remaining as is and really continuing to distribute in the territory. It's very hard to plan ahead, but in 2 years the logic would be that we would find our beers regularly in the country. We have developed a fairly large range, we have made quite a few ephemeral brews to begin to project ourselves onto the market of a few cities where we can have contacts more easily than in other places. I am thinking in particular of Paris and Toulouse.
Lilian: And we would also like to be very present at events. It is the objective.
Gabin: Yes, there you have it, responding to big events.
Aurora: I imagine you want to stay mainly on the territory? Distribute in restaurants, bars etc.?
Gabin: Yes, that’s the goal. We want to try to make a local beer so that’s the primary objective. We're going to come there anyway, no matter what type of box it is, we're going to want to consume more and more local, so that's it.
Any future projects? Ideas for growing your brewery?
Lilian: We started 2 weeks ago! [laughs].
Gabin: I have plenty of ideas afterward! I can't necessarily say them, but my head is overflowing with ideas. There's no problem ! My brain is never really turned off, it is always on standby even when I sleep, I think all the time...
Lilian: There are plenty of projects for sure, we can imagine partnerships, different packaging, etc… we can imagine lots of things, even if nothing is defined yet.
And to finish…
Some additional questions
I hadn't planned this question, but I want to ask you anyway: what would you say to someone like me, who doesn't like beer?
Gabin: [laughs] I would say to you, try the white one already. We’ll talk about it again when you’ve tasted it! To give you the history of this beer, the specifications were “we want to make a beer for people who don’t necessarily like beer”. So it’s a very smooth, very light, very fruity beer, a drinkable beer. So. You taste this and tell me!
Lilian: For example, last week we had a friend of ours who stopped by with his wife and she doesn't like beer. I told her "it doesn't matter" and while having her husband do the tasting, I served him a bit of the white wine and I said to him "just the smell smells like the aromas, even if you don't Don’t drink it.” She replies “wow, it smells really fruity!” what did you add? » and I answer him “that’s the recipe, it’s the hops that develop those smells”. All our beers have a big nose, I mean you can already recognize it by the smell before you have tasted it. And she said “well I taste it” because she wasn’t used to this type of smell for a beer and she left with a box of 12! [laughs]. And besides, he wrote to me because they already have more!
Gabin: In fact, in “I don’t like beer” I mean “I don’t like industrial beer”, which I completely understand because I don’t like industrial beer either. Finally, I'm not a fan of this product. The spectrum of beer is super wide! It’s a shame to confine beer to industrial beer. The beer we know. There are lots of small breweries doing extraordinary things, lots of different styles that people don't know, because it's not known and because you have to dig deeper. You have to be a fan of this to find it. Our goal is to show more of what we can do with beer.
What would you say to convince companies, for example restaurateurs, who would like to work with you but who are still hesitant?
Gabin: Lilian, it’s up to you to answer, that’s your job, right! [laughs]
Lilian: Yes in fact, we have to go back to the points that we have stated since the beginning of this interview. The first advantage is that they are local beers made in Aubrac. Aubrac is a very popular product. When you come on vacation to Aubrac, if you can only consume products that are from Aubrac, that’s great! You arrive, you have your sausage which is made in Laguiole, you have your aligot which is made in Laguiole, you have your beer, you can say that you have your meal 100% Aubrac and local.
Gabin: Your charcuterie platter, your cheese platter, the fouace…
Lilian: The farcous*, etc… And the second advantage is precisely that they are different beers to go a little outside the standards. We have a lot of tourist customers who go to the restaurants and that's discovering something else, nourishing our culture a little by discovering local beers which change a little bit from the half-pressure that we have. habit of drinking everywhere.
Gabin: That’s it, and to convince them I would just say “try it!… Try it, we’ll see!” ". I think they won’t be disappointed but “try it!” ".
*Farcous: small fritters made from chard and parsley that are mainly eaten as an aperitif.
I invite you to discover, during a visit, the world of beer with Lilian and Gabin, who will be happy to explain their profession to you and let you taste their beers made in Aubrac.
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