Brasserie Harricana

This is the bar for the Montréal Victoire, the professional women's hockey team. We are here during a Sunday afternoon game. There are a lot of women here cheering them on. It's a fun atmosphere. It's also primarily a French speaking crowd. (The servers are bilingual.)

The beers, sadly, are consistently thinner and less flavorful than most micro-breweries. I do appreciate they serve in 3 different sizes (5, 8, and 16 ounces). There were 13 beers on tap, 1 cask-conditioned beer, 5 bottled beers.

Service was efficient and friendly. I never waited long for a refill. The food was mediocre (especially for Montreal). Not much swag: a t-shirt and a baseball cap. No beers to go.

Cool vibe with pop music and bright, feminine colors which is welcome given how many breweries and bars follow the industrial or pub-wood playbooks. About 20 taps, mostly in house brews. Wide range in styles: I sampled a raunchbier, scotch beer and saison. Quality is decent but none were particularly memorable. didn’t try food as it was super expensive. A pleasant visit.

some good beers. was not impressed with their cheap patio. trying to give good service. worth a look on a non peak time.Not a prime stop for all the places in Montreal.

I was happy to find Brasserie Harricana. A bright, hip location that has a really great selection of beers on tap. About half the selection are home-made beers, such as an Aprikot Weisse that I tried and thought excellent. Others were good but not as successful as the aforementioned Aprikot beer. But don't let this you from stopping by, as their house beers are on a rotating tap. The second half of beers are taps from great QC breweries such as Le Trou Du Diable and offer interesting alternatives. Oh, they also have a decent selection QC cider on tap for the non beer drinker, or if you just want something different.

The food is good but pricey. The service is a tad slow, but friendly and knowledgeable. No reservations, so you may have to wait for a table. Their is, however, a nice bar to stand at and enjoy a beer if you do have to wait.

Bright, open, multi-leveled hipster version of an old-style supper club, with levels that make it kind of weird feeling/looking, but it feels bigger, I guess.

Lots of their beers, lots of invited beers and a few private import bottles. Their beers are ok from what I had, but I would pass them up (from the ones I have tried) compared to other places with a better vibe and nicer prices. The prices! They're super high, I feel. I am willing to pay, but 6$ for half a wine glass of okay beer and lunches starting at 15$ is beyond what I want in a place.

 

 

Short review: This place is great. Funky, cool interior decor, exceptionally friendly service, and a very good beer selection focused on Quebec beers. If you're making a visit to Jean Talon Market (which you should), walk a few blocks over and grab lunch, a snack, or dinner here (and beers, obviously).

Longer review: Opened in late 2014, this brewpub is still just getting up and running as of my visit in Summer 2015. They serve house beers and a good mix of guest beers from province. It's the only bar in Canada with a "flux capacitor" beer system (separate regulators for each tap at the bar -- google it for more info). The food is solid and the beer selection is great. They only had one house beer on tap at my visit, but it was good (the brewpub is not yet active so they're contract brewing right now). If you're in the mood for a pub crawl, start here, then walk over to Vices & Versa, followed by Isle de Garde Brasserie (1039 Rue Beaubien Est, Montreal). You'll have great beer choices at all three locations.