Every year I love to have my annual bièrcation, and with that - I love to check out new and exciting brewpubs, breweries and beer stores, as well as meet up with beer geek friends. For the second year in a row, I went to Montreal even though my heart is in Quebec City.
I was hoping to do a brewery tour or two, but unfortunately that didn't happen as my requests were declined, or in McAuslan's case - they won't be open for brewery tours until later this spring. Bah humbug.
One of my favourite places to check out while in Montreal is Dépanneur Peluso. Time and time again it's raved as being one of the best bottle shops in all of Canada, and even on RateBeer.com - listed as one of the best beer retailers in the world! Why's that? Selection and service.
When you first enter Dépanneur Peluso (Boni Soir), it looks like your standard corner store - you have fridges with milk and soda, racks with chips, snacks and bread. Then.. you walk a bit further into the store and you immediately realize that their main focus is beer. At first, you come across mostly macros, you see fridges full of beers by Molson, Labatt, Sleeman, Tremblay and Belle Gueule - the typical stuff you see at the local Metro or IGA in anywhere in Quebec - the macros. Then you turn a corner and you quickly feel overwhelmed by the Quebec beer scene. Overwhelmed may not be the right word.. I was flat out feeling dizzy at the beer section! They have hundreds of different beers, mostly all listed in dedicated sections so that if you wanted beers of a specific style - say barley wine - all the barley wines are next to each other.
I had a quick chat with resident Peluso beer expert Pierre-Luc who was just finishing up his shift as I was making my way into the store. Pierre-Luc also happens to be the go-to beer expert for Voir.ca so you could tell that the staff there were dedicated about beer. He showed me some of the new beers that were just released, giving me suggestions on what I should check out and even showing me his personal favourite beers. As soon as he was done his shift, we did a beer trade - I gave him a few bottles of beers available out west including a bottle of Half Pints' Grand Slam Breakfast Stout, and he gave me a bottle of Peluso 30 XXX, a beer brewed by Brasseurs Illimités exclusively for Dépanneur Peluso for the store's anniversary (Check out a YouTube review by Les Freres Atman).
In the end, I purchased more beer than I should have - as I was leaving back for Manitoba the next day - and I was well over the limit for excess luggage weight limit because of it. But when in Montreal, boire comme les locaux!
I really enjoy visiting places like Dépanneur Peluso because they put local beer front and centre, which is something you don't see outside of Quebec due to their restrictive liquor laws AND our restrictive liquor laws. Times are slowly changing out here in the west and one day here in Manitoba we will see people drinking local instead of drinking that beer they saw advertised on Hockey Night in Canada.
 |
| "Financing Available #NOT - U-Wuss" |
 |
| At $180ish, you too can own a 6L bottle of Unibroue's La Fin du Monde! |
 |
| Ottawa's Beau's is now available in Quebec! |
 |
| My attempt at a panorama |
No comments:
Post a Comment