One of Montreal's few female brewers runs the show at 4 Origines

Brewing is a craft of precision and endurance, and much of it goes unseen. Hours of demanding work go into the pints pulled by a variety of microbreweries: lifting sacks of grain, stirring hot mash, checking temperatures and PH balances, and repeating this process in the early morning hours and all through the night.

That’s saying a lot when looking at 4 Origines in Pointe-Saint-Charles, a brewery housed in an old industrial building and tucked in between rail lines, where brewer Sydnee Wilson and head brewer Yanick Turcotte make up the small team running the entire operation.

Their pace is relentless as they seamlessly climb steps, haul bags, and empty mash. Heavy metal blares as they move swiftly through the hot and humid air, Sydnee pausing only to check on the steeping wort which releases a warm, sweet, grainy aroma all throughout the brewery. While navigating this intense routine, she patiently walks me through each stage of brewing, breaking down the chemistry of fermentation along the way. Later that morning, during a brief cigarette break, I asked about her work’s demanding rhythm and realities.