First, squeeze yourself onto the narrow spiral staircase going down (don’t be startled by the wooden figure with a guitar on the landing), then take the creaky wooden stairs on the opposite side — this time going up!
Baffling stairways, secret passageways, false walls and hidden rooms — it’s all part of the experience at La Maison du Bootlegger!
Images: Bar hopping across Canada
Originally built as a farm house in 1860, the interior underwent an unusual re-arrangement after the home was purchased in 1939 by the son of an American cotton baron and moved a few kilometres to its current location in Sainte-Agnes de La Malbaie.
Prompted by his father’s threats he’d be disinherited if he didn’t get a job, Norie Sellar, decided to turn the house into a private club, where wealthy Americans, who spent time in the nearby woods hunting and fishing, could come to unwind and relax.
At the time, consumption of alcohol was frowned upon by the church in Quebec, while prohibition reigned in the U.S. But liquor, including moonshine, flowed freely in the Club des Monts, brought in through one of the hidden entrances. They were ingenious enough that no one ever got busted.
After Sellar, there were other owners, one of whom ran the place as a restaurant which opened only intermittently. Then in 1996 it was purchased by its current owner, Johanne Brassard, a former flight attendant.
Brassard was fascinated by the home’s construction. It was built entirely without nails using only wooden pegs. She knew its history, though few others remembered. “When I bought it, people didn’t even know the story of Mr. Sellar and his house anymore,” she lamented.
Resisting suggestions to tear down the walls and renovate, Brassard decided instead to preserve as much of the original house as possible. With the help of her mother — who researched the home’s history — and stories told by Sellar’s former cook Dolores Jean — now in her 80s but a yearly visitor — Brassard was able to create a fascinating tour of the house and its secret rooms.
Four years later, the Bootlegger House won Les Grand Prix du Tourisme Quebecois in the category of attractions with less than 100,000 visitors. It’s a popular place with tourists and locals. There’s a bar and restaurant with live nightly entertainment, and guided tours of the house, where visitors are led through hidden entrances into rooms you’d never guess existed.
Period furniture transports you to another era as do old newspaper clippings and photographs. Original items include two pianos, a colourful gaming floor where gentlemen spent time placing bets, and a collection of paper currency nailed to a wall. (Yes it’s illegal to deface currency, but, the guide emphasized, “Sellar liked illegal things.”) Easily, the most famous visitor at the exclusive club was Elvis Presley. His signature is etched into a wooden plank in a narrow passageway. Presley’s wife, Priscilla, apparently had an aunt who lived in the area and the rock idol stopped in at the Club des Monts, where chef Dolores Jean (whose son was an Elvis impersonator) cooked him a steak!
The tour ends in the attic, which served as the restaurant as it does today.
It’s crammed with paraphernalia, from an Elvis bust to a collection of drinking cups, souvenirs from Morocco, as well as some quirky and humorous objects. Note the painting above the bar of The Last Supper in which Brassard is featured!
The nightly entertainment can be as odd as the house. It includes a segment featuring Brassard’s two black Labrador dogs — Betty Boot (not Boop but Boot as in Bootlegger) and Black Jack (a reference to the gambling that took place here). There’s always live music, sometimes featuring Brassard’s boyfriend Joey Tardif, a well-known Quebec musician — there’s a teen idol-like poster of him behind the door in the ladies room.
While seated at the original wooden tables and chairs, many with carvings by visitors from Sellar’s day, guests enjoy a range of liquid concoctions — all legal of course. The range from the Bootlegger’s Punch (rum, coconut cream, and orange and pineapple juices) to non-alcoholic mixed-fruit drinks with names such as the “clandestine,” the “illegal” or the “outlaw.
They don’t call this Charlevoix’ liveliest bar for nothing.
writer@interlog.com
If you go
The Bootlegger House is open April 30 to mid-December. Guided tours are offered seven days a week as part of a package with dinner and live entertainment. There are 20 dinner choices, each of which includes a starter, entree (steak is a speciality) and dessert. The price is between $30 and $50 depending on what you order.
If you’re coming for the tour alone, these are offered continuously during the day from mid-June to mid September. Tours are about 45 minutes and cost $8. La Maison du Bootlegger is at 110, Ruisseau des Frenes, Sainte-Agnes de La Malbaie, Que., about 1.5 hours from Quebec City. For info, call 418-439-3711 or check maisondubootlegger.com.
Another drinking establishment worth checking out, though far less zany, is the Microbrasserie Restaurant le Saint-Pub in Baie Saint-Paul, which brews some of its beers right at the pub. Made with natural ingredients, without additives or artificial flavours, the beers get good ratings from connoisseurs. Try four samples for $6.50. The pub is about 40 km south of the Bootlegger House. For details, call 418-435-3877 or check the French-language-only website, microbrasserie.com.
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