Guys weekend in Montreal

July 17, 2017July 15, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

The idea for a guys weekend in Montreal with my dad started with a desire to relive some old times in the city. Aside from family road trips to visit my mom and dad’s relatives in New Brunswick, my first real travel experiences were with dad visiting Montreal to take in Expos games in the early 1980s. Those trips were fun times and the memories of them still float around in my mind from time to time. The excited feelings I had when I first arrived in Montreal as a child on the train on those trips are pretty much the same feelings I have today when I visit a place for the first time.

So with nostalgia sparking the idea, and a couple of Blue Jays preseason games in Montreal this past March forming the cornerstone of a trip, I invited my dad on a guys weekend in a city we both love. I flew in from Saskatoon, him from Halifax, and we met in the Montreal airport ready to relive some good old times and to see what kind of trouble we could get into. Trouble is all relative of course, and 40-somthing me and 70-something dad were both up for some unhealthy but delicious eating. First order of business was a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s.

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There’s more than wine

May 24, 2017May 22, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

In the days leading up to leaving for France, the most common question asked of me was some variation on “How many wines are you going to try over two weeks?” No one asked me if I was excited to sample some French craft beers. While I have almost built entire trips around craft beer tastings, you just don’t do that in France. You could. Not that there isn’t an ample and growing beer community, but there’s really so much else that’s worthy of attention. So on this trip, while leaving most of my time to wine (I’ll be writing much more on that soon) I fit some beer in along the margins.

On a late morning (if there’s something I love about Europe, it’s the laissez-faire mentality to a moderate amount of morning drinking) where my wife was getting a few extra Zzzzzs, I popped into Académie de la Bière just down the road in Montparnasse from our hotel and enjoyed a just before noon amber ale from La Parisienne. Nicely balanced, my first craft beer in Paris gave me hope I’d find a few hidden treasures over the two weeks.

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A great beer destination

April 18, 2017April 16, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

One of the main reasons for choosing Portland for my winter escape this year was its abundance of craft beer. Many say Portland has the highest per capita concentration of craft breweries and beer bars in the USA – that was good enough for me to book my flights! Once I arrived in the city, I knew I would be dedicating at least a couple of afternoons to some beer tastings.

My first afternoon “crawl” started at Rogue. When you arrive here, they pour you a sample to welcome you. For me, it was their Chocolate Stout, which ended up being my favourite of the visit.

They have so many beers on tap it was difficult to make a selection of only four. I knew I’d be hitting two more breweries, so was trying to pace myself. My favourite of these was the 4 Hop IPA on the far left which was very full flavoured for a lower alcohol beer. By far one of the most intersting samples of my trip was their Beard Beer (second from the right) using wild yeast from the brewmaster’s beard. It was a touch sour with a hint of hipster.

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Six days of Seattle sampling

February 2, 2017February 2, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Anytime I got out of Saskatoon in 2016, mission one was partaking in some craft beer sampling. My desire to try a new beer every time I crack one open had run into a small (but thankfully growing and delicious) craft beer scene in Saskatchewan. In Seattle I had the opposite problem – so many beers, and so little time – so I got started right away on my first afternoon. With a reservation just around the corner at a great Mexican restaurant, I stopped in at Optimism Brewing for a quick four sample tasting. Most memorable was the Afraid of the Dark lager, but the prize for best named went to “Don’t Boo, Vote” – particularly sad as I was sipping it just two days after the election.

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Craft beer vacation day

December 28, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

The first half of my September vacation day in Vancouver was spent on Grouse Mountain taking in spectacular views on a simply perfect fall day. Being 4,000 feet above the city breathing in fresh mountain air allowed me to work up quite the thirst for my afternoon pursuit – a craft beer crawl through East Vancouver. First stop was Parallel 49 Brewing, oddly, a brewery whose beers I hadn’t tried before even though a number of their offerings are available in Saskatoon.

I was really happy with my selection of this as the first stop (as my palette was at its freshest) and of the samples I selected for my tasting here. These beers were all outstanding. From left to right: Holy Smokes (a smoked lager), Schadenfreude (probably the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had with a full pumpkin and spice flavour), Summer Smash (an ISA that if it were available in bottles would be my watching a baseball game game beer) and their Filthy Dirty IPA. What a great start to a craft beer crawl!

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Five days of Minnesota beers

December 14, 2016December 14, 2016 / Greg / 2 Comments

My solo trips in recent years have had a focus on baseball and craft beer. Minneapolis this year was no different and provided a great setting for both. Five days and nights spent in beautiful Target Field watching baseball bookended part of each day, and some exploration of Minnesota state craft beers took up a part of the remainder of those days. In the city, there was no shortage of beer options, even for someone who stuck to breweries and bars near the downtown or on one of the light rail lines. There were even a couple of great taprooms conveniently located next door to the ballpark I was heading to every day.

Modist Brewing’s taproom had a very stripped down, almost Scandinavian, feel. On a humid afternoon of city exploring, I pulled up a chair and tried four of their creations. My favourite (the picture on the left below) was their “First Call”. A light lager infused with espresso, this was deliciously weird and wonderful. If ever there was a morning beer, this was it.

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Alberta beer sampling

October 1, 2016October 1, 2016 / Greg / 1 Comment

With the move from Halifax to Saskatoon and all that entailed, this has been a year of shorter trips and vacations. One of those was a July road trip to Edmonton to see the Tragically Hip play on their last tour. Like all my trips this year, and owing to Saskatchewan’s limited selection of craft beer, I managed to find a way to sneak in some sampling and tastings over a couple of days in Edmonton.

On the afternoon before the Hip show, I noticed an interesting beer and wine store in the downtown and grabbed these two to put on ice back at the hotel. The Blindman Session ale was very tasty post-concert. I should have been smarter and grabbed more to bring back home.

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Beer tastings in Regina

September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

A quick two day trip to Regina to take in my first ever Roughriders game allowed just enough time to squeeze in a few craft beer tastings as I continue to explore Saskatchewan and western Canadian beers that I hadn’t been able to sample while living in Halifax. Beer Brothers, a beer-focused bar in downtown Regina, was the stop following an after work drive into the city from Saskatoon on a Friday afternoon. While my wife ordered from a reasonable selection of gluten-free options on their menu, I went to work trying a couple of beers. On the left, I started with three small samples and was especially impressed with the Rebellion margarita gose (lime, slightly salty and sour, a wonderful summer beer) and their double black IPA. I’ve become quite the Rebellion fan since moving out here, and selected a pint of their regular IPA, now one of my go-to beers, for my meal.

Tasting flight at Beer Brothers in Regina

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Summer beers in Quebec City

July 28, 2016July 28, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

My recent trip to Quebec City didn’t have a lot of time for sightseeing and exploring, but I did manage to squeeze in some craft beer samplings around the work and networking that goes hand in hand with a conference trip. Shortly after arriving in one of the most beautiful cities in Canada, I was in need of a quick lunch, and the craft beer bar Le Projet was a short walk from my hotel. The delicious Horreum Beta, a session saison from Microbrasserie Pit Caribou, was a wonderful match for a truly outstanding poutine. Solid start to the trip.

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Craft beer sampling in Montreal

June 26, 2016June 26, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

Since I moved to Saskatchewan, I have realized that I have moved to a place that is a little behind other parts of Canada in the craft beer revolution. In a couple of months in my new province, I have sampled most of the craft beers available. So, on my recent trips, I’m making sure to get my craft beer experimentation in before stepping on the plane to come back home. In Montreal for a few days back in April, I managed to find a few new favourites.

On an afternoon with a couple of free hours, I made a stop at Dieu du Ciel and fell in love with their bar. It would be a routine hangout location for me if I lived in Montreal. Of my time in the city, two of the best beers I tried were from this sampling selection: the Aphrodisiaque/Aphrodite stout (second from the left) and the Rigor Mortis Blonde (on the far right). Also not too shabby was the Blanche Van de Plateau (second from the right). All in all, a great tasting experience.