Don de Dieu, Unibroue, QC

9%. My favourite, tasted head to head against the Fin du Monde and Maudite. Doesn't taste as strong, more balanced.

Recidive, Brasseurs et Freres, QC

An irish style stout, dry, low alcohol (4.8% ABV), and tasty.

Weizen Imperiale - Grande Cuvee, Les Trois Mousquetaires Microbrasseurs, QC

Really nice, little bit sweet and hazy, 8%ABV. I'll try some more of their beers.

Blanche de Chambly, Unibroue, QC

Been really liking the wheat ales this summer, this is a good one from Unibroue, fairly frothy, but not very lemony.

La Fin du Monde, Unibroue, QC

9%ABV

Maudite, Unibroue, QC

8% ABV, tasty, biere forte sur lie

Stout Imperial, La Barberie, QC

Julie brought this back for me from Montreal last week. Its very tasty. Its from a cooperatively owned microbrasserie La Barberie.

"Strong beer on lees", 500ml, 7.5% alc./vol.

Cendre de Lune, Fromage Cote, BC

Picked this up at l'Amis du Fromage on the 1/2 price shelf. It expired on March 29, I love expired cheese. The tasting guide on the side of it describes its state as "fait a coeur", done to the heart. It has ripened almost to the point of runny, it melts across the knife and the tongue, and the rind has some sharpness to contrast with the richness of the cheese. It looks strange from the outside, particularly because ashes were use to cure it, I guess.

Full name is Cendre de Lune du Village de Warwick. Bit of a mouthful.

Chambly Noire, Unibroue, QC

I've had this before, and like it a bunch. Its frothy, like all the Unibroues, from the bottle fermentation on its lees, but tasty.

6.2% ABV, maybe a good thing after a long week.

Spoken word/Body, Martin Belanger, Round House, Vancouver

We saw Martin Belanger at the Vancouver International Dance Festival Friday night. Apparently Julie knows him from Montreal, went to school with him, or something.

It was a really strong performance. He presented a series of thoughts on the development of movement in technological times (maybe the only place where our physical movement is still important is "sex, dance, and sports"), and his accompanying movement sometimes illustrated, sometimes not, his words. Very informal, and very thought-provoking.

He's an amazing dancer, and the music (partially mixed live on stage with him by his accompanying technician, who he interacted with during the presentation) was pretty varied and interesting.

Of course, if you haven't seen it already, you've missed it!

Quebec-Montreal, QC

A number of people on their way to Montreal from Quebec along highway 20. Their relationships are not going so well, and turn out to be intertwined...

Great fun, a little bit of schadenfreude.

Peche Mortel, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, QC

imperial stout au cafe

Julie's opinion: "dégeulasse"

I gotta say, I'm not a big fan of coffee in beer. When the beer has a coffee-like flavor because of how its made, fine, but coffee? Still, I tried again. It reminds me of a famous beer Chris Cummer bought down in West Virginia - it was so disgusting it was still sitting in his fridge months later as he tried to convince his friends to give it a try. What happened to that beer, Chris?

Anyway, not to be repeated, but I'm trying to finish the bottle...

On the plus side, it has 9.5% alcohol. Oh, wait, I don't like high-alcohol beers...

dieuduciel.com

Route des Epices, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, QC

Biere de seigle au poivre (beer with buckwheat and pepper)

5% abv

This is a strange one... it has a hot peppery finish. Julie won't drink it. I'm drinking it, but I don't think I'd drink another. It tastes like a good beer, that somebody added pepper to. Hm.

dieucuciel.com

Ramdham, Les Brasseurs du Hameau, Ham-Sud, QC

malt quebequois, orange biologique, biere noire sur lie

Claimed to have a "puissant gout d'ecorce d'orange" (strong taste of orange peel), but it didn't. It was a smooth tasty black beer, with a rich head, but no taste of orange that I could notice. Sometimes beer left on its lees gets a little to much CO2 as it sits in the bottle, and I think this is one of them. I don't like to burp up excess gas while I'm drinking my beer, it reminds me of soda pop and champagne (yuck).

Other than I couldn't taste the orange (and I was curious to know what it would taste like!) the carbonation is my only gripe. The flavour was good, and Julie drank it with pleasure.

Still, there's lots of good stouts, I'm not sure I'd buy this one again.

Interestingly, this Brasserie calls itself a nanobrasserie, I guess "micro"s have grown pretty big, and they claim to be the smallest in Canada!

lesbrasseursduhameauc.ca

Rosee d'Hibiscus, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, Montreal, QC

Blanch qux fleurs d'hibiscus

5% alcohol.

Wasn't sure what to expect with this. I was worried that it would taste like perfume.

It tasted like a slightly fruity (but and undefined kind of fruit, maybe a berry) and sweet wheat ale, and its colour glowed rose. A little too sweet to drink many of, but I liked it, and would drink it again. Its a late afternoon in the sun kind of beer.

Clair de lune, Multi-Brasses, Tingwick, QC

Biere noire aux Pommes

So, this is a stout (with only 4.9% alcohol) made with apples. What does it taste like? Strange.

Toby liked it ok. He thought it tasted like a shandy, and that the apple flavour was fresh and fruity. Me, it felt more like an unhappy marriage of not-very-good apple juice, and a would-have-been-good stout.

Not a winner.

http://www.microbrasserie.ca/

Dépanneur Rahman (le Paradis de la Bière), Montreal

Wow, the brasseurs of quebec are bursting with creativity! And a lot of their work is on display at this dep a few blocks from Julie's brothers place.

They make lots of blondes, and lagers, and wheat ales, but they seem to mine the belgian traditions and there imaginations as well. I picked up a stout flavored with apples, a scottish ale with blueberry, a wheat ale with hibiscus... Not all of these will be good of course (I remember a pine flavored beer we had at the Cheval Blanc, another brew pub, imagine a mediocre ale with a table spoon of pine sol... couldn't even finish it). But hey, sometimes it works!

Dépanneur Rahman
151 Laurier ouest
Montréal
Tél.: (514) 279-2566

La Cap Espoir, Les Brasseurs RJ, QC

I got a 6 of these at le Depanneur Rahman, on sale.

Its a beer on lees, so its a bit fizzy, but not as much as the Unibrues tend to be. It tastes fresh, a little fruity, and a beautiful amber colour, like a tawny port.


http://www.brasseursrj.com

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, Montreal, QC

I really like the beer here, but its crazy busy at night, and has always been choked with cigarette smoke. Not so nice to visit.

But Hurrah! No smoking in Montreal bars anymore, so we went to visit.

I had the Grande Noirceur, an Imperial Stout. It was good, but was on the verge of sickly sweet. And just because it has a bit more alcohol doesn't mean it should be served in a smaller glass! Anyhow.

Marc had the Premiere Neige, and it was delicious! A bit hoppy, with a hint of Anise, they describe it as a scottish ale, which basically seems to mean rich, reddish, and a bit sweet. I thought it was more like an IPA. Either way, the bitterness of the hops and sweetness of the anise balanced really well. I really liked it, and tried to buy a bottle, but no luck. I'd like to try to make one of these.

dieuduciel.com

St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, McAuslans, QC

This is one of my favorite stouts. Probably my favorite that comes in a bottle. Rich and thick. Light on the hops, no flavours stongly out of place, or strange finishes. Yum!

But still, I'm looking for decent stouts from BC, it feels strange to move all the way back to BC from Ontario, and still be drinking Quebec beers all the time, even if they are good!

mcauslan.com