MontreHaul and Vermont Sipcation. Part II

MontreHaul and Vermont Sipcation. Part Two

Waking up in Vermont we were only a couple hours away from Montreal and it was a cloudy rainy day so we took our time meandering up the outskirt of Lake Champlain and crossed the border into small town Canada as we let the kilometers roll by and took in the farm countryside of our friends up North.  As we arrived in Montreal we realized our GPS was a bit confused with the french roads... we adapted and navigated our way into the heart of downtown and pulled
into our home for the next four days. 

Delta Montreal

Another Hotwire exclusive that placed us right in teh heart of downtown in between Rue St Catherine and Rue Sherbrooke, and it was really a great modern hotel with a sweet view from the 15th floor. Modern sleek clean and comfortable with a in-room Bodum percolator and IHome clock radio to dock an ipod and the flat screen tv had a desk console with a usb, hdmi , firewire cable adaptorsfor tech savvy travelers !

As the rain came down we unpacked and organized our room to make it home for the next few days I pulled out my beer map that I made via google maps before heading out on vacation.

On this map I dropped pins on any brewpubs, bottleshops, record stores, restaurants and markets we may want to visit while out walking around... I don't have a smart phone...gasp, so we simply kept this map loaded on our ipad and when we were looking for a place to visit we could simply open it up to the map and navigate our surroundings and see any pins we may be close too !

After checking the weather it seemed the evening was going to be a rainy one so we decided we would go hoping around from brewpub to brewpub within a few blocks of our hotel.

First stop which ended up only being about a five minute walk from the hotel was:

Benelux
245 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest

We were there to help open the place around 4pm with only a couple other patrons there having a quick pint for lunch. The bartender was very nice and helpful, we started off with a few pints and after being pretty impressed with them I decided to get a sampler of everything offered.

Every beer offered was quite drinkable and well made and they offer a small menu of paninis and cheese plates that were very affordable and quite tasty considering they were also prepared by the bartender. They have a nice outside patio and the inside is jam packed with chairs and its quite obvious that this place gets bumping when the sun goes down... but for a quiet lunch spot with close to a dozen solid offerings it was just what we were looking for as a first stop in Montreal.

After a few beers and a nice lunch in our bellies, the rain outside turned into a deluge and we decided to scurry back over to our hotel to dry off and suit up for a night on the town. After a little more relaxing and unpacking the rain slowed to a sprinkle and we took the opportunity to make our way over to a few more brewpubs for brews and appetizers.

Next stop was...

Le Saint-Bock
1749 Rue Saint-Denis

This place was having a Dogfish Head night and it was kind of amusing watching them geek out on bottles of 60 minute and anxiously ripping labels off for their collections at the table next to us. Along with Dogfish Head bottles they also just had a BFM  tap take over a few nights prior and their draft list included some tasty Bon Chien vintages and a few Grand Cru leftovers as well. The service ended up being painfully slow and the place must have been a humid 80 degrees plus because I went through a handful of napkins wiping my brow and a couple of my beers ended up being finished warm as they weren't served very cold and then warmed up in the temperatures fairly quickly. Even my wife was complaining about the heat so we decided on just ordering a salad and what we thought was pretzels but ended up being a hot dog on a stick... strike one for our french > english menu translations... Im usually pretty good but this was an amusing fail!

After a few more painful attempts at getting our waiters attention we decided to order a couple more of their in house brews and call it good. All three brews were balanced and flavorful but served a bit warm and nearly flat, which took away from the experience quite a bit. Personally I think we will skip another stop at Le Saint-Bock on our next visit.

From there we were still hungry and happy to get some fresh cool air... with the rain picking up again we strolled just up the road to another spot that was more relaxed and less busy.

Brasserie Artisanale L'amere 'a boire
2049 Rue Saint-Denis

(apologies for the subpar pics, Im not one to use a flash inside a restaurant)

This place had a nice open wall front letting a nice gentle breeze roll into the bistro/cafe set up. They had a little focused menu and we ordered another salad, some duck wings that were amazing with a sweet honey and sesame sauce, as well as an order of gyoza dumpling stuffed with a rabbit confit.

The beers were also delicious with very german style offerings. We enjoyed a couple 22oz glasses of the house made czech lager, montreal helles and a pilsner as well. All were refreshing clean and perfectly balanced. That accompanied by a seemingly older more mature crowd and a super friendly staff made this a must stop for all our future Montreal visits.

After our fill of appetizers and beers we took a meandering stroll along the rain soaked streets back to our hotel for a good nights rest before a epic few more days of foraging, drinking and eating !