Canada

Arthur Figgis a écrit :

I can only answer for Montréal :

Micros are all over the place in the Province of Québec. The former state monopoly SAQ has a dire choice of beers, but go at lest 50% of the "dépanneurs" (corner shops) in Montréal have some beers from micros.

Besides there's brewpubs such as "L'Amère à Boire", Rue St-Denis, a great place for beer

Notable local micros include :

MacAuslan : a range of vers true-to-style uk-influenced beers. TheirSt Ambroise oatmeal stout is one of teh benchmarks of the style. try also St Ambroise Pale ale, Griffon Red and Special Pale Ale, and also their Apricot Wheat, which is dry, bitter with a seamless integration of the apricot essence.

Boréale : beers are vaguely UK-influenced, uneven, The Noire is IMHO the best, with a touch of smoked malt.

Cheval Blanc : belgium-influenced, try the Tord-Vis (maple) , scotch ale and Coup de Gisou (Biuckwheat)

Schoune : Belgian Style, have had quality problems, heard they were very good now

Chaudron : UK-Style, try the Cobra IPA and Coeur d'or Pale ale

Unibroue : Maudite, Fin du Monde, etc. Good belgian style stuff. has been bought by Sleeman recently, so the future is uncertain.

Hope this helps contact me direct if you need any additional info.

Cheers !

Laurent

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

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.

Arthur Figgis a écrit :

One place you can go and ask is the "Babillard général" (general bulletin board) on

Cheers !

Laurent

"The Submarine Captain" a écrit dans le message de news:40cc46dd$1 snipped-for-privacy@news.bluewin.ch...

As Laurent said, Bièropholie is the best place to ask for information and don't be afraid if you don't speak french the majority of people there are bilingual and will answer in english if needed.

If you speak french you may also visit

As for Montreal, there are 7 brewpubs, among them the ones not to miss are (bilingual websites):

Pretty fine for lagers, but scarcely the best in town. For that, head to the "Main". My favourite is La Taverne du Sergent Recruteur on St. Laurent (The Main): a must if you're into hops. Even their porter is distinctly (and pleasantly) hoppy. Try also: Dieu du Ciel

I love the St. Ambroise beers, but I'd give the Griffon range a miss, unless you're into bland.

It certainly ain't the best, having been described as "Boring Ale".

You're much better off picking this stuff up in bottles. Every time I've been into the place, the beer has been off, sometimes spectacularly so. I once started a pint which would have been very fine over popcorn.

Their best was Calumet double smoked porter, which they brewed for a group of Montréal beer enthusiasts. I don't see it on their website any more.

My booth was next to theirs at the St. Lawrence Market (Toronto) Craft Beer Show last weekend, and they don't seem overly apprehensive, or enthusiastic, for that matter. Some of their blander offerings are gone, but otherwise you won't see any radical changes in the near future.

"Jamie McDonell" a écrit dans le message de news:8qOzc.18678$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com...

Le Sergent Recruteur has a bad reputation about infected beers but i don't know if it's still true since i haven't heard of anyone going there in a while. Dieu du Ciel is my place of choice with always excellent products. As for the Réservoir, i heard that quality varry.

For the Cheval Blanc, the botle product and the brewpub are 2 differents compagny since a few years back and the brewpub new headbrewer have realy increased the quality standards since he is there.

It's the other way around, Calumet was brewed at the Chaudron brewery by the founder of Bièropholie, a french speaking website dedicated to beer lovers, a new batch was bottled today.

Unibroue masterbrewer (originated from Belgium) still has a few years remaining on his contract and the sale contract stipulated that recipes will stay the same for a year at least but lots of people are sceptical since each brewery that Sleaman bougth either closed or had a decrease in quality.

If it's improved, it's done so in the last few months. While my first two experiences with Cheval Blanc were 12 and 14 years ago, my most recent experience was in November, 2003. That's when I had the pint that tasted like liquid butter.

Also, the brew pub and the bottled product are produced by two different divisions of the same company (although I recognize that there are two brewers in the picture). My problem with the brewpub product is not with the brewing, anyway. It's with the keeping of the beer. Behind the beer's offensive characteristics, I sensed a generally well-made, if not particularly exciting, ale. However, if you can't keep your ale on form in what is, in essence, your brewery tap, there's something seriously wrong.

Jamie McDonell a écrit :

yup, the

Jamie McDonell a écrit :

In this NG I tend to use the likes of John Smith Smooth as my yardstick for "bland" and IMHO the Griffon range, and even the nitrokeg Cream Ale, are IMHO quite a few notches higher than John Smith Smooth. For British palates who might want a rest from the spectacular stuff now and then, and settle for a satisfying session beer, the Griffon range may IMHO be worth trying, though indeed they are not the kind of beer that'll leave you speechless... or send you to sleep under a hefty charge of hops.

It certainly ain't the best, having been described as "Boring Ale".

Indeed Boréale is not the best brewery around, but they're pretty much everywhere, so IMHO needed a hint in the direction of their best stuff. I therefore purposedly only mentioned the Noire by name.

I could have mentioned far worse stuff... think Sleeman and their dreaded clear glass bottles :o[ or the dreadful Rickard's Red (bleuargh)...

Cheers !

Laurent

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...