Upcoming Trip to Montreal

[niwell]

Originally Posted by big T

Others have covered the must-dos pretty thoroughly, so I'll just reply on the craft beer front. Luckily, Montreal is one of the very best craft beer cities in the world, so you will have lots of options. Too many, in fact.

First, Vices & Versa absolutely should be the first place you hit. They have an excellent, always changing selection of Quebec beers, which always includes a bunch of Dunham brews as that brewery is owned by the same guy as the bar. The waiters are usually knowledgeable, but as a rule anything by Dunham, Hopfenstark, Brasseurs du Monde or Les Trois Mousqueraires is bound to be excellent. As a bonus, the food is pretty good.

Other good beer pubs include the fairly new Isle de Garde (nearby, corner of Beaubien and Christophe Colomb) and Helm (Mile end).

There are also a few great brewpubs (which only serve their own beer). First and foremost is the Benelux. They now have both a downtown and a Verdun location, with different beers brewed in premises in each one. If it's a nice day the hike out to Verdun is worth it just for the awesome terrasse at the back. Definitely my favorite brewpub in Montreal.
Other good spots: l'Amère à Boire (st Denis), Dieu du Ciel (a bit overrated to be honest, but still good), La Succursale (Masson), Le Reservoir (Duluth).
Not as good but still ok: Brasseurs de Montreal (2-3 locations I believe), le St Houblon (st Denis), Brouhaha (a bit out of the way in Rosemont so maybe not worth the hike unless you've explored other options above already), Les Soeurs Grises (ok beer and good food, and convenient if you're in old mtl already)

Avoid: Brutopia (Crescent), le Saint Bock (st Denis - go to nearby Amere a Boire instead)

Hope this helps and let us know what you thought!

Excellent, thank you! This definitely helps a lot. Had heard good things about vices et versa so glad that others feel the same way. Will have to make some touch decisions as we don't have a huge amount of time to spend.

If you are ever looking for Toronto recommendations let me know - there's so much new stuff within the past few year it's hard to figure out from just online research.