Montréal beyond

Time was running short in Montréal and I still had some places on the list I wanted to visit. Who's up for a turbo pub crawl / death march?

We begin at Isle de Garde, a long linear brewpub in the north of the city. I got a bit of Twitter interest from observing that their beer menu is arranged by serving temperature, which is all kinds of useful. From the middle section of that I picked a house beer: C'est Une IPA; Elle est Américaine, a hazy orange 5.7% ABV job. It's pretty sweet, all orange juice and perfume on an unpleasant lumpy thick texture. Add in notes of garlic and lemon floor cleaner and it should be a disaster but I warmed to it, enjoying the continuous flow of citrus juice and finding it thirst quenching despite the strength. Well, it had been a long trek up here.

The paler beer beside it is Hully Gully, a sour IPA by Les Grand Bois (the only brewery named after the Wetherspoon in Blanchardstown) coming in at 4.3% ABV. It's a lemonade yellow and had a beautiful acid sharpness full of lime zest and gunpowder. A little severe, perhaps, but it's certainly stimulating. More generosity with the hops would improve it, but still very enjoyable as is.

The tall fellow on the left here is Belge Style Trappiste: Cabernet Sauvignon et Brett, a beer which holds no mysteries for anyone fluent in Franglais. This is a whopping 10.3% ABV with a powerful vinous aroma, all raisins, oak and a nosehair-burning balsamic sharpness. Yet the flavour isn't in any way sour, instead showing the rich warmth of strong coffee, Malaga wine and cream sherry, with a texture to match. The description indicates that they've aimed for a quadruple but they've hit barley wine instead. There's a wide disconnect between the aroma and flavour but both are excellent and the end result is balanced, smooth and utterly delicious.

Next to it is Saison Fruit Bombe, another Isle de Garde job, in collaboration with the MaBrasserie co-operative. Brettanomyces features in a big way, though not really in a fruity way, showing more of the funky aspects. It's all farmyard in the aroma and sweaty horsey straw in the flavour. If that's your sort of thing you'll love this, but complex it ain't.

Out we trotted after that and over to Vices & Versa. This is a rangy pub spread over several rooms, decked out in canteen-like bare wood and veneer. It was 32°C outside and they'd thrown all the windows open, so it was pretty much 32°C inside as well. We just stayed for one.

I chose MaBrasserie Pilž Výčepní because something with that many accents on it has to be authentic. And yep: this is the mandated 4% ABV with weighty, grainy malt and a big hit of grass. That's fresh-cut to begin with, turning to bitter wax on the end, and all smooth and sinkable with just the right level of subtle carbonation. It had turned a little sweet by the time I finished it but I blame the weather for that.

The hazier yellow beer on the left of it is IDA La Grisette, a collaboration between Isle de Garde and Dunham. At 5.2% ABV it's far too strong but tastes great, all spicy and herbal with an unexpected lacing of tropical juice. The aroma too is all lemon and basil. It's refreshing without being any way thin. Deftly done.

Heading back towards downtown, we pass Cheval Blanc. This is a fairly commonplace beer brand throughout Quebec, featuring on many pub signs and A-boards around what I saw of the region. The Montréal brewpub is an odd sort of place, with the look of a chromed-up cocktail bar or American diner, converted to a beer specialist with minimum work other than the brewkit installation.

Sour Soif was my shout, a 3% ABV "milkshake sour session IPA". Wut? It's a super-pale white-gold colour, tasting sweet and tangy. Lime sherbet mixes with chalky milk sweets, resulting in something tart and refreshing, and remarkably well-integrated despite the obvious gimmickry.

My wife picked Todo Includo, a New England IPA which gets its name from the use of seven different hop varieties. A mild spring onion aroma is par for the course, as is the creamy texture. Yet it's not sweet and juicy, going instead for zesty lemon notes and a properly serious boiled-in bitterness. Though 6% ABV it manages to stay light and refreshing and is an interesting and worthwhile take on the style.

A couple of stops along the Métro and we're at Les Soeurs Grises, a bustling modern brewery-restaurant in the old town. I picked Ginger from the range here, intrigued by a saison with the titular spice at 6.2% ABV. It arrived a clear pale orange colour and does indeed display the promised ginger -- gentle with no burn -- alongside a soft banana flavour typical of strong saison. It's maybe a little blander than I'd have liked, but lacked any of the hot off-flavours I feared, so it gets a thumbs up as a thirst-quencher.

For the lady a stout: L’Appât-Si-Noir, an oatmeal one at 5.6% ABV with the customary annoyingly thick head. It smells richly roasted and tarry, tasting of caramel up front and milk chocolate afterwards, fading out on creamy mocha. That head -- which is a sizeable proportion of the volume paid for -- dissipates quickly, a symptom of an overall flatness. This is an excellent recipe let down by a very poor serve.

We didn't get to eat at the famous Montréal brasserie Joe Beef, but I did find the house beer at a barbecue joint elsewhere in town. Joe Beef Special Pils is brewed by Bierbrier, and is the only one of theirs I came across. It's not great: heavy doughnut malt and a too-light wax bitterness make for something that works OK with a stodgy pile of marinated meat but just isn't hop-forward enough to be a good pilsner.

An Ontarian usurper is beside it: Lug Tread "lagered ale" by Beau's All Natural Brewing Company. This was awful, all cloying perfume and acrid plastic, with a long and nasty perfume tang, simultaneously stale and artificial tasting. I wasn't tempted to try any of their other offerings after this.

Not far from the restaurant was the final brewpub for the Montréal leg: Benelux. It seemed like quite a swish joint, though it was late so crowded and loud. We cowered at a corner table and yelled at each other over our beers.

Mine was a black IPA because I've taken to ordering them now wherever I see them. Black Beatty is 6.5% ABV with the spiced red cabbage aroma that is uniquely appropriate to the style. A bitter tar bite starts the flavour, followed by zesty lime, fading to lemon sherbet before a long liquorice finish. This is big-flavoured yet balanced, exactly what a black IPA should be, and a perfect example of why the style deserves to be preserved.

Barbarella blackcurrant gose is the other beer, and before you sigh at another one of those syrup-infused sour beers sullying the name of gose, this one is genuinely great. There's a real salty briny quality all the way through, with the Ribena blackcurrant offering just an enhancement on this, not the main act. It's a real gose with added fruit, not a fruit beer with gose notions. The finish is mostly about the leafy coriander but with a tannic berry skin bite as well. Surprisingly lovely, and I would have liked more time and a more conducive environment to see what else Benelux had going.

That's time at the bar for Montréal, however. Next we explore some more bits of Canada's east.