Tag Archives: Montreal

Montreal: Mondial de la Bière 2009

Posted on June 15, 2009 | 3 comments

mondial_glass

As my 5 or 6 regular readers will know, I’m not exactly known for brevity or timeliness when it comes to posts on this blog. A perfect example of this is my report on my trip to NYC a couple of years ago, a bloated series of six meandering posts, the last of which wasn’t posted until a month after I got home. So for this report on my trip to Montreal for Mondial de la Bière, I promised myself that I’d be both punctual and somewhat brief.

Well, it’s a bit over a week since I got home, so I’m not doing so great on the “punctual” part. So let’s see how I can do on the “somewhat brief” part…

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Riding the Rails

Posted on June 3, 2009 | Comments Off on Riding the Rails

I’m sitting on a train about an hour outside of Montreal on my way to Mondial, clumsily typing away on my new iPhone using the WordPress app. I know I’m about the 57 millionth person to do this sort of thing, but it’s still really fucking cool.

I don’t know if I’ll be doing much live blogging while I’m at the festival, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I’ll probably be doing some Twittering (@beerbeatsbites). For those who are doing the same, use hash tag #mondial2009

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Odds & Sods

Posted on May 30, 2009 | Comments Off on Odds & Sods

oddsandsodsI think I might’ve mentioned this before, but even if I have, I’ll mention it again: One of the main reasons that I’m such an infrequent blogger is because I have yet to master the habit of writing things in a short and to-the-point manner. I constantly have a few different ideas for posts bouncing around in my head, but can never find the hour or so of spare time that I make myself think I would need to get said posts written.

So with that in mind, here is my attempt to get a few of those things covered quickly and concisely.

  1. As per usual, I’ve been writing beer-related posts for Taste T.O. on a regular basis. Here’s what’s gone up there in the last couple of months:
  2. I’ve given in to peer pressure and got myself an iPhone. Which means that I will most likely be engaging in some hot live Twitter action at the Mondial de la Bière in Montreal next week. Follow @beerbeatsbites if you think you can handle the excitement.
  3. My new deodorant has hops in it. It’s also the most effective deodorant I’ve used in ages, which I’m sure will make my suite-mates in Montreal very happy.
  4. The awesome folks at Mill Street delivered one of their new Seasonal Sampler six-packs for me yesterday, and I enjoyed a couple of bottles from it tonight. Ontarians can watch for it to hit LCBO shelves this coming week, and I’ll have a full write-up about the pack over on Taste T.O. soon.
  5. Nothing to do with beer (or beats or bites, for that matter), but I watched Milk tonight, and wanted to mention how great it was. Sean Penn was stunningly good, deserving of every award and nomination he got, and even though I knew how it ended, I was still engrossed by it. And given recent events in California, it was especially poignant. If you haven’t seen it, do.

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Posted in administrative, bars & pubs, beer reviews, movies

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I Heart Hopfenstark

Posted on June 23, 2008 | 1 comment

As I mentioned in my infamous “Ass Sandwich” post a while back, one of the highlights of my trip to Montreal in February was meeting Fred Cormier of Microbrasserie Hopfenstark. It was a highlight not only because he’s a great guy with a lot of passion for beer, but also because he’s a very generous guy who gave me and my travelling companions a box of beer to bring home with us.

I went through my share of the goodies soon after returning to Toronto, and have intended to write something about them here ever since, but lack of time and organizational skills have caused a delay until now. Below are my tasting notes from the half-dozen bottles I tried, as originally written for RateBeer:

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Montreal – Part 2: Ass Sandwich

Posted on February 26, 2008 | 8 comments
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Saturday in Montreal found me suffering a slight case of The Morning After The Night Before, with an empty stomach calling for something tasty and a little greasy, so I was glad when Paul went out to grab a Coke and discovered a promising looking breakfast place just around the corner. Restaurant Mosaik (5201 St-Laurent) was, as the reviews promise, a perfect place for a hangover breakfast – a laid-back vibe, friendly staff, good coffee, and food that’s a step up from diner fare without being too chi-chi. A nice touch was the inclusion of a serving of creton, a traditional Québécois pork pâté that I’d never tried before – horribly unhealthy, I’m sure, but really tasty on toast.

After breakfast (well – given the time, it was closer to being lunch), we took a wander around the neighbourhood and checked out a small location of SAQ, the provincial liquor store chain. Since beer is available in grocery and corner stores, the government-run stores don’t carry much of it, but they’re worth a visit to check out the selection of ice cider, a delicious beverage indigenous to Québéc that’s filled with appley goodness.

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Montreal – Part 1: Pata-Chou!

Posted on February 17, 2008 | 5 comments
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I’ve only visited Montreal a few times, but two of those visits have played a pretty big role in increasing my interest in craft beer.

The first time was in 2000, when I attended the first instalment of MUTEK, an electronic music and arts festival that is held there every May. My time there happened to coincide with Mondial de la Bière, Montreal’s renowned beer festival, so I headed down to check it out one afternoon. I had always been a microbrew drinker, and enjoyed trying new brews here and there, but Mondial exposed me to beers and styles that I’d never heard of, let alone tried before, and it inspired me to expand my beer horizons once I returned home. Still, it remained more of a casual interest than the obsession it has since become.

It was my next visit just over two years later that helped push me over the edge. I headed there with a friend primarily to represent Piehead Records, a small record label that my wife and I were running at the time, at a concert by three artists we had signed. But we also spent a lot of our weekend visiting some of Montreal’s brewpubs and beer bars – including the now semi-legendary Dieu Du Ciel! – and we came back with a trunk full of weird and wonderful Quebecois beers. A couple of weeks later, I discovered RateBeer, and the inevitable slide into complete beer geekdom soon followed.

Last weekend, I finally made a long overdue return visit to Montreal with three of my regular beer pals, and the focus of the trip was beer, beer and more beer. Hell, we even stayed in the apartment above Dieu Du Ciel!, so you know that we were serious.

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