Université de Montréal captures the flavour of the mountain by brewing its own beer

Students at Université de Montréal have been testing out a new brew made of local organic ingredients harvested from their own campus this week.

"We want to promote the products of our campus," said Pascal Prouteau, the university's director of housing, hospitality and restauration.

The beer is made at the Brasserie Onzes Comptés in Cookshire-Eaton, Que., using honey from the campus' beehives and hops grown on the mountain.

"We wanted to have a very special beer with the identity of the mountain," Prouteau told CBC's Let's Go. "Everything is organic because you can't have pesticides on the mountain. So this is a guarantee for us."

Following in that spirit, the amber-blonde ale is named Sur la montagne (On the mountain).

The campus houses six beehives and produces 80 kg of honey every year. For the beer, they use about 30 kg, said Prouteau.

The only thing they don't have is the barley, which they get from a supplier outside Sherbrooke, Que.

The idea for the beer came about when Prouteau was brainstorming sustainable ideas with a colleague. Once conceived, they jumped at the chance to see it through.

"It's a very special beer," he said. "The success we have with this one motivates us to do the next one in January."

So far, this first batch is being well-received by members of the university community.

They started by ordering just over 5,760 cans and plan to keep changing up the recipe as time goes on.

"Maybe next summer, something with blueberries. Something blue to show the colours of our university. The sky is the limit," said Prouteau.

The beer is available for purchase at the main cafeteria, Chez Valère, in the campus' Jean-Brilliant building.