Fromagerie le Détour

Bas-Saint-Laurent

Fromagerie le Détour

The idea of opening a cheese dairy first occurred to Mario Quirion at the end of the 90’s. The Beauce native had always wanted to start his own business. When he suggested the idea of making cheese to his wife, Ginette Bégin, she was immediately on board. They quickly selected Ginette’s home region of Témiscouata for their enterprise. The couple had their heart set on developing the terroir of this region, which had not seen a cheese dairy for 35 years. Since they wanted to focus on cheesemaking rather than dairy farming, they wanted to be close to milk supplies. The facility began producing cheese in 1999.

At the beginning, the dairy mainly made Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella. It began making ripened cheeses in 2004; they have eight varieties on offer today.

Le Détour produced cheeses from cow, goat and ewe milks. Milk quality is a constant concern for the Quirion-Bégin couple. Their cheeses are made from the milk of local herds. A single herd per type of milk supplies the milk for the production of some 50 cheeses produced by the couple.

Their cheeses are sold from New Brunswick to Ontario, and even across the border.

The dairy is named after the former designation of the town of Notre-Dame-du-Lac: Détour-du-Lac. Located near the borders of New Brunswick and the State of Maine, the area used to attract many travellers who had to make a detour around Lake Témiscouata in order to continue on their journey.

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