Daleyne Guay is the co-founder of the New Deal Brewing, a new player in the craft beer market aiming to stand out not only by the quality of its product, but also its socio-environmental commitment.

In anticipation of the 11th Novae field trip, taking place on November 18 in their Boucherville facility, we interviewed Daleyne Guay, CEO and co-founder of this new brewery that wants to change the world one sip at a time.

New Deal is a brand new brewery: what’s different about your approach?

Our microbrewery will be the first in Quebec to adopt the B Corp certification standards: for us, the importance of maintaining a solid financial performance goes hand in hand with our social and environmental involvement. I like to say that we launched this initiative with the goal of making the best beer in the world and for the world. We’re also committed to establishing production procedures that minimize the use of drinking water and energy. Our results will be analyzed on an annual basis so we can implement procedures that will help us optimize our consumption. Buying locally is also very important to us: we partner with local suppliers for our raw materials as well as our production and logistics needs. In August, we also obtained Ecocert organic certification.

Why did you adopt this strategy?

I wanted to create a business with a strong socio-environmental impact. More than anything, we want to offer an interesting option to consumers looking for top-quality, local craft beer made using responsible practices. This isn’t a publicity stunt: our raw materials cost us 35% more than what we would need to pay to produce a classic beer, because we made the choice to be organic. Essentially, we hope that our socio-environmental commitments will add to the pleasure of drinking a truly excellent beer!

You’ve officially been in business just over a month. What have your early accomplishments been?

Currently, we have a network of 150 points of sale, and that’s growing day by day. Our goal is to have 1,000 by Christmas. We’re also happy about the partnerships we’ve developed up to now. For example, we work with the bakery L’amour du pain in Boucherville, giving them our spent grains, which they incorporate into their bread. We also have a new partnership with the breakfast subscription service Oatbox, which also uses our spent grains in its granola. We’re hoping to develop other similar initiatives over the coming months. Recycling our waste is important to us, and adopting a circular economy is a very good option. It also allows us to promote our brand beyond beer.

Our objective is to achieve a significant market share in Quebec, and then export our products across the rest of the country and into the United States. We’ve obtained support from a dozen angel investors, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Investissement Québec, which helps give me confidence in the idea of developing a long-term vision.

What can the Novae field trip participants expect during their visit on November 18?
First, we’ll greet participants in our tasting room, which is largely made up of recycled materials. We’ll explain the philosophy and approach of the Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co., talk about our company’s deep-rooted socio-environmental values and the objectives we hope to achieve in the next few years. Then, we’ll take everyone on a tour of the facility, and our beer master Olivier Thomann will teach us about the art of brewing. We’ll finish up, of course, with a tasting of our Boldwin beers!
The Novae Field Trip to the Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co. will take place on Friday, November 18, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. To sign up, click here.

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