SUSIE ELLISON is TASTE&TRAVEL’s Travel
Editor. She loves to eat, loves to read and loves
to travel.More happiness on discovering that Laiterie de
Coaticook just down the road was still open — at 11
pm. Coaticook Creamery makes old-fashioned ice
cream without any nasty ingredients. If you’ve never
tasted apple ice cream, take it from me — you need to!
Some 3 million litres of Coaticook milk are used
each year by the monks at Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-
Lac to produce their award-winning cheeses. The small
monastic retreat established in 1912 by a group of
Benedictine monks from France, is now a magnificent
example of modern ecclesiastical architecture, with
spectacular views over Lac Memphremagog. A visit to
the abbey is an opportunity to witness services in
Gregorian Chant, and to buy the brothers’ cheese,
apple sauce and cider from their expansive gift store.
The Victorian village of Knowlton is famously
picturesque. The Brome County Museum displays
artifacts dating back to the arrival of Anglophone
settlers from New England and Vermont at the close of
the 18th century. In more recent times, best-selling
crime novelist Louise Penny has put Knowlton on the
map by making it the setting for her murder mysteries
featuring Chief Inspector Gamache. You can pick up a
signed copy of her work at Brome Lake Books in the
heart of the village, along with Gamache’s favourite, a
licorice pipe.
Knowlton is also the headquarters of Brome Lake
Ducks and their products feature proudly on local
menus. Le Relais Restaurant et Bistro, attached to t
he Eastern Townships’ oldest inn (Auberge Knowlton,
1849) serves a knockout duck burger, and a duck
confit flatbread with figs, roasted garlic and blue
cheese. Local beers (the Townships boast no less than
19 microbreweries) and wines from local vineyards
round out a menu that celebrates contemporary
Townships cuisine.
My last stop on this road trip was at Domaine
Château Bromont Hotel and Spa, a sprawling four-
season resort at the base of Mount Bromont, just over
an hour by road from Montreal. Les Quatre Canards is
the resort’s fine-dining restaurant, all old-school
elegance, deferential service and classical haute cuisine
with a regional focus. I ordered the Guinea fowl, which
was braised with girolle mushrooms and sage, with a
spicy squash purée, baby pattypan squash and carrots
on the side. To drink, an oaky Sevyel Vidal from
L’Orpailleur, second oldest vineyard in the region,
chosen in consultation with a friendly, knowledgeable
sommelier. A classic crème brûlée was the sweet
bookend to a delightful ramble through one of the
prettiest — and tastiest — parts of Canada.PHOTOS THIS SPREAD CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT Historic barn at Auberge
West Brome; Sunset on the
Richelieu River; Tasting cheese
at Ferme Guyon; The Eastern
Townships’ oldest inn; The dining
room at Auberge Handfield.64 TAST E&^ TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL^ APRIL–JUNE 2019
C A N A D A
ROAD TRIP QUEBEC