Hey Guys, I was planning on heading up to Montreal in a few weeks and was wondering what hot spots I should hit. Besides hitting up Brasserie Dieu Ciel, I am pretty clueless in terms of where I should go and what I should pick up in Canada. Any thoughts? Advice would be greatly appreciated.
Dieu du Ciel is my top stop in Montreal. Fantastic beer and usually a list of brews a mile long. However, I suggest eating dinner somewhere else before you hit the pub. They don't really have much to offer other than mediocre pub grub. Closer to downtown the Benelux brewpub is pretty good. The beers are fairly standard (pale ale, stout, hefeweizen, etc.), but very tasty. They have a nice patio which is great for people watching on a warm day. Le Cheval Blanc is another great brewpub and bar. Besides their own beers they have some gems in bottles available. Finally, another not to miss stop for me when I'm in Montreal is Schwartz's deli. There's usually a line waiting to get in, but the wait for the corned beef sandwich is worth it. Search "Places" for a great bottle shop in Montreal. My friends and I brought back a few cases of Dieu du Ciel beers on our last trip for a lot cheaper than they would have cost us in the states. That reminds me, each person in a vehicle is entitled to bring home one case of beer tax free! Have a great trip. Montreal is an awesome town.
Schwartz's is awesome. BTW you may get more feedback if this is posted in the Canadian forum. Just Sayin.
I really loved Vices Et Versa, serving only beers from Quebec. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9572/view=beerfly
If you're into low ABV beer, l'Amère à Boire is a definite must go. Their lagers are truly worldclass and food is very good unlike the other pubs. La Succursale is very good too, especially their Kolsch. They are other decent spots, but I'd stick to these 5 ones (Cheval Blanc, Benelux, DDC, Amère à Boire and La Succursale) if you're staying in Montreal. There is several beer stores, but Depanneur Peluso is well known. As for selection, DDC, Charlevoix, Trou du diable (usually sold out though), Hopfenstark (limited availability) and Brasseurs du temps (limited) are always nice. Also, Boquebiere, Dunham, Trois Mousquetaires and À la fut can be good. Limited beers goes pretty fast at Peluso, but I don't know well enough the other beer stores to give advice. You can try Rahman which is very close to DDC but not fun to go. Edit: Forgot about Vice Versa, it is a very good place for people outside of Quebec as they have Hopfenstark beers and others you won't find in Montreal. They have average house beers though.
That was amazing last year at the Jazz Fest! To the OP: Post your query in the Canada forum, and you will get a lot of great local info. I'm up there every 2 months but I would be giving you the same info as they would - everyone who is into good beer knows the great places in Montreal.
An outsider looking in, but one who went to Montreal in March and followed the advice of the good folks on here ! Dieu De Ciel was a real let down for me. Terrible service at the bar (ok it was busy, but I've seen a lot busier) and the 3 beers I sampled were OK, not bad by any means but more 'whelming' than anything else. Personal taste preferences perhaps? I'm not normally big on brew pubs and feel that sometimes they can knock out average beers as they have no competition when only selling their own range, but having seen the reviews/reccomendations I thought I'd give it a try. We then hit Vices et Versa (approx 25 mins walk from DDC) and this place was awesome, we all wished we had skipped DDC and gone straight here. Friendly and efficient bar service from the start and every beer I had was top notch, a mixture of beers from around Quebec as touched upon above and VetV is I presume the tap house for beers from the Dunham brewery as they had a dozen or more on tap (unless they were showcasing on this weekend?) Referring to my notes - 2 cask lines available which found Dunham's Imperial Pale Ale @8% and Dunham's Imperial Stout @9% in TIP TOP condition, really well kept lines ! There were at least 30 beers on the chalkboard in total. We were only in Montreal for 24 hours so not time for too much, but we found ourselves in Benelux for an hour before flying home on the Sunday. It had only just opened at 4pm and was getting busy already. All house beers by the looks and I sampled a pale ale and a saison, both good pints. Cheers Ruds
Does anybody know how easy it is to find Belgian bottles in Montreal? i.e. Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, and Fantome. I'm going to be there as well at some point in the summer and would love to bring back some nice sours that are nearly extinct in the US.
Sorry, you are out of luck my friend... the SAQ controls imports, and sadly those are not on the list of things which you'll find in their stores. You can find certain Belgians like Chimay or St. Bernardus though.
You will not find these on the shelves. You may find people that do have access to them through private importation. (message me if you need more info )
Brou Ha Ha and Cheval Blanche will have these private imports for sale but to drink on site at their establishments. They were there the last two trips of me anyways.
