At Île Sauvage Brewing, every beer has a story. Here's one of them from the mouth of its head brewer, Stephane Turcotte.
Father, husband, business owner and brewer. These are all the things that describe Île Sauvage Brewing’s co-owner and head brewer - Stephane Turcotte.
(Left) Stephane Turcotte with his two best friends. image sourced from Île Sauvage’s Instagram page.
Born and raised in Montréal, Québec, Stephane grew up a child of two linguistic families. As someone who performed the art of “code switching” he would match his two families’, his mother the lawyer and “francophone” against his electrical engineer father, the “anglophone”. It also made for fun summers at the family cottage, spending time outdoors for months on end. Meanwhile, like so many, he was fast falling in love with snowboarding, baseball, and soccer.
As a footballer (aka, soccer player), Stephane had an affinity for the right slot, but really the game was a casual experience to him. Baseball was where his early passions laid.
Early on, Stephane took to baseball as a shortstop before slowly growing weary of the competitiveness of that position. This often meant, as he got into his teens, he was stuck as a second baseman or catching stray balls out in the field. He didn’t mind, because it gave him a chance to experience a kinship with his favorite Major League Baseball star, Roberto Alomar, who, you guessed it, played 2nd base. Eventually, he transitioned his love of playing the game to watching, going to or watching the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays compete.
And when he wasn’t watching baseball, he was taking part in matches as a footballer (aka, soccer), snowboarding, skiing, or skateboarding.
It wasn’t until his late teen years that his parents elected to move from Montreal to Okanagan, British Columbia. It didn’t take long for Stephane to fall in love with British Columbia when one weighs the compacted slopes of Quebec against the soft powder of places like Whistler Blackcomb. Course, when he wasn’t snowboarding in the mountains, he was indulging in skateboarding with close friends, listening to (misperceived as) obscure bands, and falling in love with art. Not long after, he would get to live out his dream of attending the University of Victoria, following in his father’s footsteps with a major in Electrical Engineering.
Early on he experienced challenges trying to justify a future career in Engineering, while simultaneously skating and snowboarding. He was soon unable to juggle both school and his two loves, after three concussions and the ensuing memory failures that followed. In the end, he sacrificed his love of skating and snowboarding while exchanging volts and circuit boards for English Literature.
As an English Literature major, Stephane quickly excelled in his studies, mostly because of the kinship he had with his teachers and fellow students. Several years later, he was the owner of an Undergrad and at the urging of a couple of close friends, moved to South Korea as a teacher.Weighing the opportunity to leave the country and get a couple years of teaching under his belt; he jumped at the opportunity.
Once in Korea, Stephane appreciated the less hectic schedule that afforded him time to experience his place of calling Buson. As part of living in Buson, he had to learn the language. This naturally inspired another love of his, linguistics.
In no time, after applying at various universities, he was accepted in Nottingham, England, as part of Masters studies. Around this same time, Stephane met his future wife, who was a support staffer at a local internet cafe. Promising to stay in touch, he left for England, home to the Premier League, alternative music, and of course beer.
Before long, he had his Master's degree and in short order, with the pleading of some friends, he returned to Korea.
It was on the second trip to Korea that he got the courage to ask his now wife, on many dates, before marrying her three years later. Around the same time, he resumed home brewing along with a few of his friends.
Pooling financial resources together, the group agreed to make some 20 gallons of beer per month, after which everything would be bottled. Over time, this added up in both material cost and storage. So, Stephane suggested they purchase a kegerator and some kegs, afterward they were entitled to growlers of beer instead of bottles. Mind you, the exercise of brewing and bottling wasn’t anything unusual to Stephane. Recalling it, he would speak about the many times his father and him would buy a recipe at a u-brew, before bottling it up.
But, with the arrival of American craft beer from the likes of Alesmith, Green Flash, and others, Stephane and his friends figured they could do better. So they opened their first beer bar together. A first for Buson, South Korea.
With the help of a licensed contract brewery, Stephane, his wife, and his friends. Pretty soon, the beer bar concept took off, starting as an oasis for expats, before being majority supported by Koreans. Meanwhile, as business was picking up, Stephane was urged to invest more time in the business, resulting in his eventual departure from schooling. Thinking back he admits he feels it was fated. Incidentally, his wife started investing more time as the accountant. Soon, the owners of this destination bar came to realize they needed to expand their space, and the beer they were paying for needed to improve. Enter their first brewery.
Recognizing they needed a location that accommodated both customers and the new brewery; they settled on a space with large open windows, and plenty of seating. Meanwhile, Stephane started scouting brewery manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and, eventually, China. It was in Jinan that he came upon a startup brewery manufacturer who worked with him on a scaled brewhouse, including kegs and other equipment. Before long, Stephane successfully set up the brewery back in Buson, much to the delight of customers. But there was something missing.
Maybe it was another stroke of luck. But on one such return to British Columbia, with his two children and his wife in tow, Stephane had an epiphany. As a father and husband in Korea, it wasn’t lost on him the growing challenges his children would be experiencing. As a descendant of a Canadian father and a Korean mother, he knew the children would face ridicule for their mixed-race. But this was Christmas, and he didn’t want to dwell on these things.
It was during Christmas, amongst his family in British Columbia, that he had recognized how much he missed the spirit of the holiday. It reminded him how much he missed the slopes of British Columbia, the smell of the air, and the changing seasons that made the area special. Plus, upon hearing he was in town for the holidays, his best friend reached out to see if he was interested in starting up a brewery in Victoria. Fate, it would seem, would nudge him further.
With the holidays in his rearview mirror, Stephane returned to Buson, where an aspiring bar owner was waiting for him. It seemed, after many months of buying Stephane’s beers, he was interested in owning the very brewery and pub. Not one to argue, Stephane accepted the offer and used the proceeds to relocate back to Victoria before starting the process of opening a brewery.
image sourced from Île Sauvage Brewing’s Instagram account.
Fast-forwarding a little, it is safe to say he, his two best friends - Ian Ibbotson and Adam Gresley-Jones got their wish to open a brewery. But it still required a year of approval from the city. Meanwhile, Stephane got to work on the brewery, starting with getting in touch with the same brewery manufacturer from Jinan. Around this time, Stephane started working for a few months at nearby The Drake Eatery. Smiling, he recalls those many months with customers and industry colleagues alike asking for an ETA on opening his brewery. Looking back on the process, he would tell you he wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. But he’s glad they secured the location they got.
Today, he and his three friends are happy with the progress they’ve made in improving awareness of beer in Victoria. On top of that, he takes care of three children, has a wife who happily works for the local government, and enjoys spending time outdoors. Looking back on it all, he would probably change a few things, but he remains happy being a father, a husband, a business owner and a brewer.
