What're you drinking right now?

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:57 pm

dutchcanuck wrote:I hit up Cole's and Premier Gourmet last night, yay family day, and low and behold they had Troeg's Nugget Nectar sitting in the fridge! So I picked up a sixer of that and OMG its wonderful. Its going to go down well while I watch the Leafs-Sabres game. Mixed a sixer as well with some Ommegang, Weyerbacher Quad, Dark Horse Pale, Victory Hop Devil, and Old Rasputin Stout.
I'm heading up to Ottawa tomorrow and I look forward to stopping in at Church-Key Brewing to get some Grains of Wrath and drinking MORE than my fair share of Sgt. Majors IPA and anything else I can get my hands on.

When you're in Ottawa don't pass up the chance to score some beer in Quebec. SAQ's, Deppaneur's, and Marche Jovi are easily within driving distance, walking distance in some cases as I found out a couplr weeks ago!

dutchcanuck · Post by **dutchcanuck** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:59 pm

Thanks for the head's up Jesse. I've already taken a peek at the SAQ website and I was astonished at the number of good Belgians they have available. Definitely going to be bringing my weight in beer home

lagerale · Post by **lagerale** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:05 pm

While not drinking anything this moment, I am happy to say I had a good week last week drinking American beer including:

Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA
Bell's Expedition Stout
Brooklyn Monster
DFH 90IPA
Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Stout
Great Divide Ruffian Barley Wine
Great Divide Titan IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Lagunitas Sirius Ale
Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale (one of my favourite all around beers)
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Stone Arrogant Bastard
Stone Ruination IPA
Stoudts Double IPA
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA

And a few others that aren't coming to mind. It was good. All good.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:38 pm

I was at Church Key on Sunday, no Grains of Wrath, no West Coast, no Like Water for Chocolate. So I settled for a growler of Brown Ale and a six pack of Northhumberland, I intend to start into the Brown when I get home tonight

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:42 pm

dutchcanuck wrote:Thanks for the head's up Jesse. I've already taken a peek at the SAQ website and I was astonished at the number of good Belgians they have available. Definitely going to be bringing my weight in beer home

No problem, but I wouldn't stake all my hopes on the SAQ if I were you. Marche Jovi is easy to get to and has arguable the best selection of stuff in the area (La Trappe a Framage is apparently better but I've never been there.)

If you're not on RB, here's a link to their map of the Ottawa-Hull area places: http://ratebeer.com/Maps/Metro-89.htm

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:43 pm

Oh, and I'm enjoying some Durham Signature Ale at the moment, decently fresh at only a couple months old (fresh by my BS's standards), and it's delicious, a great go-to beer.

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:50 pm

Drinking the Sarge (I picked up a sixer to send some out to Alberta). Very solid IPA. Thinking of moving on to some Brown Shugga, but we'll see where the evening goes.

dutchcanuck · Post by **dutchcanuck** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:56 pm

icemachine you've rained on my parade. I was really hoping to taste their Grains of Wrath.
Jesse, I plan on going to Marche Jovi as well, but I cannot search their inventory. Can you recall what I can expect to find there? I look forward to indulging in some Quebec Microbrews. Speaking of which, does anyone know of a good place on the opposite side of Ottawa that has a good tap list and food? I must admit that I have not been impressed with beer available in most Ontario pubs. I think Cole's has spoiled me.
I plan on hitting Pub Italia while in Ottawa and stopping in at whatever place catches my attention in Byward Market.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:38 pm

I'm pretty sure there is no way of knowing exactly their list of products, as grocery stores generally don't run websites about themselves

, but they have an extensive collection of many Quebec micro's, so anything you could ever want from the big ones like Unibroue/Brasseurs RJ just to name a couple, some Dieu du Ciel, and a number of French imports which are awesome (lots of Biere de Garde's which is a favourite style of mine). I'm sure they get different stuff in all the time and what not, and that there's probably someone on this site with a better knowledge than me about such things.

You'll leave in tears over the fact that you actually live in the Independant Soviet State of Craptario, ruled with an iron fist by the mysterious, needlessly complicated, annoying, and incompetent LCBO.

dutchcanuck · Post by **dutchcanuck** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:54 pm

Well aren't you a ray of sunshine Jesse

I look forward to grabbing some nice Quebec Microbrew, sitting back, and pondering...why the hell Ontario's breweries cannot come up with something so good?
Luckily owning a car in St. Catharines, I can always drive over to Premier when I am jonesing for some good microbrew. I feel bad for Esprit, dealing with the LCBO must be so frustrating...I actually tell managers at the LCBO I shop more in the US than I do here. I love the look on their faces when I explain to them that if they had products worth buying I would be more than happy to give them my money.
Its like going into a restaurant, asking what's on tap, and then requsting a glass of water to go with my meal.
Such is the current case with Troeg's Nugget Nectar, I cannot think of a singular Ontario beer than comes within a kilometer of its hoppy character.

Torontoblue · Post by **Torontoblue** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:12 pm

Enjoying a 3 1/2 year old bottle of Anchor Old Foghorn. Certainly stood the test of time. The nose is still full of malt and hops; instantly recognisable as an Anchor beer. Hops have subsided a bit on initial taste and the sweetness of the malt takes over, but a nice bitter sweet finish. A perfect nightcap

nickelass · Post by **nickelass** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:19 pm

dutchcanuck wrote:Thanks for the head's up Jesse. I've already taken a peek at the SAQ website and I was astonished at the number of good Belgians they have available. Definitely going to be bringing my weight in beer home

Dutch, when I head over to Hull/Gatineau I usually go to a "Selection" SAQ that's about 5 extra minutes out of the way, but they always have the best selection of Belgians. The address is 31, boul. du Plateau Gatineau, if you get a chance to look it up. Otherwise for good Quebec micro's, I also frequent the ones mentioned above. They seem to always have great stock available.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:33 pm

nickelass wrote:
dutchcanuck wrote:Thanks for the head's up Jesse. I've already taken a peek at the SAQ website and I was astonished at the number of good Belgians they have available. Definitely going to be bringing my weight in beer home
Dutch, when I head over to Hull/Gatineau I usually go to a "Selection" SAQ that's about 5 extra minutes out of the way, but they always have the best selection of Belgians. The address is 31, boul. du Plateau Gatineau, if you get a chance to look it up. Otherwise for good Quebec micro's, I also frequent the ones mentioned above. They seem to always have great stock available.

I forget the address now, but there is a warehouse style SAQ in Getineau that is horrid for beer. When I was there all they had was Dab...that's it.
I ended up at the one near the casino, and it was much better...plus they had shit loads of ice cider.

I also find it fun to check out random gas stations and variety stores. Lots of fun swill to bring back to Ontario, especially harder to find Labatt offerings.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:02 pm

SteelbackGuy wrote:
nickelass wrote:
dutchcanuck wrote:Thanks for the head's up Jesse. I've already taken a peek at the SAQ website and I was astonished at the number of good Belgians they have available. Definitely going to be bringing my weight in beer home
Dutch, when I head over to Hull/Gatineau I usually go to a "Selection" SAQ that's about 5 extra minutes out of the way, but they always have the best selection of Belgians. The address is 31, boul. du Plateau Gatineau, if you get a chance to look it up. Otherwise for good Quebec micro's, I also frequent the ones mentioned above. They seem to always have great stock available.

I forget the address now, but there is a warehouse style SAQ in Getineau that is horrid for beer. When I was there all they had was Dab...that's it.
I ended up at the one near the casino, and it was much better...plus they had shit loads of ice cider.

I also find it fun to check out random gas stations and variety stores. Lots of fun swill to bring back to Ontario, especially harder to find Labatt offerings.

The SAQ you speak of is definitely the one I found on my recent trip. It's got "Depot" on the sign so maybe that means something. I didn't get what all the sinks were for on the one wall of the building. And yes it did suck, I spent 20 minutes wandering around thinking they must have more than DAB and Furstenberg. They did, I found one bottle of some obscure Czech stuff in the discount bin. It was pretty good but, wow, what a nightmare. I'm glad I found that Dep afterwards.

Zuma · Post by **Zuma** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:21 pm

I was at Jovi yesterday and the shelves were very bare. They still had Unibroue (of course) and the DDC 6 packs, but a lot of the Quebec micro's were nowhere to be found. Hopefully there are just between stock.

Just a heads up to anyone who is making a special trip out there in the next few days.

Your time might be better spent hitting one of the major SAQ's mentioned, but not the Depot. It is is only good for stocking up on cheap wine and liquor when hosting a party.