Canada

From my memories of a visit to Whistler a few years ago, bottled beers from the BC micros are easy to find, and well worth trying.

Blatant self-promotion alert!

I did the train ride as well. Wonderful.

Phil

There are three places in Toronto you should consider when here. The Bow and Arrow, at 1954 Yonge St, and C'est What, at 67 Front St East, as these two bars only have micro-breweries on tap. The other place is Smokeless Joes, at

125 John St. Even though it primarily carries bottled beers, with around a half dozen micros on tap, they usually have over 250 different beers from around the world to choose from.

Others to consider are the Blue Meaney, up the street from the Bow & Arrow, and it carries a dozen microbrews and a couple of cask ales. There are also Amsterdam Brewing Company, and the Granite Brewery, both with an on-site brewery.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

In Toronto (Pearson airport needs a large sign explaing "how to leave the airport without forking out for a taxi". Bus to Kipling metro station from an un-advertised stop is less than obvious) C'est What was pretty good, and not far from the youth hostel. As we'd just got there we hadn't cracked the numbering system and thought the Bow and Arrow at 1954 Yonge St might be miles away, so didn't get there. The Steam Whistle pilsner available elsewhere seemed pretty much generic beer.

An Amtrack train had grotty canned fizzy stuff, but the bottled dark beer in the Toronto - Vancouver dining car was okay. Buying beer on the train was too complicated, once we'd worked out when we were allowed to drink, where on the train we were allowed to drink, paid VAT, paid passing-through-Manitoba-on-a-Sunday-tax, paid service charges...

In Jasper we dived in the first pub we saw, but it was full of England fans watching Assocation Football and had some nasty keg beers from across the country.

The Swan, opposite the station in Victoria, had some very good beers, brown ale, white beer, a porter, but after three days on the train anything would have been good! Nice place all round.

The Yaletown in Vancouver had some very nice beers, and one had tasted very British (whatever I mean by that!). It was quite trendy - no cardigans in sight. The Granville Island brewery pub and its Hefewiesse wasn't bad, but shut about 19:00. A nearby hotel had another small brewery, and a decent enough pint, but being in a hotel wasn't really a good "drinking" atmosphere.

In Montreal I got to the Cheval Blanc, but by then I'd lost my print-out of the suggestions from this group. Brutopia, a stone's throw from the YHA, had some decent beers, but I didn't try the ~8% imperial stout.

Quebec has a brewpub down by the harbourside, L'Inox, but I wasn't overly impressed, and it was dark and gloomy so I baled out.

====We are off to Croatia and Slovenia in a couple of weeks, via Brussels, Cologne and Munich, back via Salzburg, so we ought to find a beer or two on the way at least...