The Bar Towel

Can anyone recommend a great beer store in Quebec City? Also any great sports to find good beer? Thanks

Haven't been there myself, but heres a start.

StephenRich wrote:Also any great sports to find good beer?

Great to combine hobbies.

Was there for a quick overnight this summer. Lower Town a bit of a desert, to be honest. Didn't have enough time to explore Upper Town. Great food, wine, etc but did not find any sort of really good beer bar.

Microbrasserie des beaux prés is awesome but a ways out. Purchasing happens in old town, at the Axe du Malt store.

Bateau de nuit is a cool spot, and just down the street is a place called Le Projet that was all craft. Different spots, but both had cool vibes in their own way.

I really enjoyed La Barberie when I was there a couple years ago, but I got the feeling what they have on tap can vary dramatically. It was also the only place I went to in a week in Quebec where nobody who worked there spoke any English at all.

Fun place though. Walking distance from the old city and it kinda had a vibe like the Only mixed with Indie. Great little patio too, which is probably less useful this time of year.

La Duchesse D Aiguillon for bottle options...super friendly guys in there, willing to help you out. La Ninkasi in Rue St Jean, clsoer to old town than the night boat....they have lots of Unibroue stuff on tap. Always fun getting a full pint of of Trois Pistoles relatively cheap. None of those small snifter / 10oz pours you get here in Toronto.

I've been to:
Le Corsaire Microbrasserie (ferry ride across)
Brasserie la Korrigane (good food too)
L'Inox Maîtres Brasseurs
La Barberie (you can bring your own food)

heading down next weekend, anyone know of any good bottle shops? or am i better off just hitting up Peluso on the way back?

The best place to go for any store bought brands is the Depanneur de la Rive. I visited In September when my wife showed me this place and I was in absolute awe with how much is available to buy there. Dan Chabot owns the place and he's always been a huge supporter of the local micro's in Quebec. He's friendly and knows his stuff, plus he speaks english and french, which was a bonus to this anglophone.

Dan told me that he basically approaches these smaller micro's, drops a wad of cash and offers to sell the product for a set amount of time (which I cant remember). Judging by how well he's doing and the popularity of his store, this seems to be working just great for everyone involved.

The link to the store is attached. I couldn't find an english option, but you can get an idea on what he has in stock.

http://depdelarive.com/

Just got back from the city for Carnaval. It was nice. We did some other non-beer-related stuff, too. The toboggan is a nice retro activity.

Bottle Shops

Alimentation L'impact: Huge selection of both cases and normal stuff, with mostly craft in singles. I spent way too long there because they have such a large selection, but one I am pretty unfamiliar with. Lots and lots of IPAs. Okay amount of dark stuff. Huge selection of non-alcoholic stuff. Less of farmhouse and sours, but still a good selection. A La Fut (cans/bottles), Dunham (cans/bottles), Le Castor (cans/bottles), Pit Caribou (cans), and lot of cider (like local company, Intrus). Service was non-existent/poor.

L'axe Du Malt: Much smaller corner store, but with higher quality/end/rarer offerings. The only official Quebec City place for Brett&Sauvage. Though they only had a magnum of Rosemary when I was there. They have Auval, but it sells out in a day or two. Great service.

Metro: Normal, neighbourhood store, not plus. Pretty good selection of mostly cans.

Didn't notice a huge difference in prices across stores.

Fancy, Schmancy Restaurants (well, not the fanciest, but hip-fancy)

Buvette Scott: Great selection of beer from Auval and Belgians like Cantillon, Tilquin, and 3 Fonteinen. I had something from a small Quebec producer that was excellent and pretty reasonably priced. Auval is mid $20s and the Belgians are $40-$80. Hip and cozy. The trout was an easy 10/10. Prices were what one would expect for the type of place. Probably $120-$160 for two with a nice bottle.

Sardines: Same Owner as Buvette Scott. I prefer the interior over Scott. Seating, too. Bottle selection seemed to be even better than Buvette Scott. Some notables included: rare fruited 3 Fonteinens, Tommie Sjef, and Nath. Food was great. Favourite dish was the cod, probably 9/10. Bottle selection focused more on Lambics and therefore a night for two would be around $120-$200.

Both had a few non-alcoholic options. I'd recommend both. Got some cured Quebec pork on the house at Sardines.

Thanks for sharing an update! I used to have a client who was a sponsor of Carnaval so I went for a few years. Always a great vibe and enjoyed exploring the funky bars along Saint-Jean, which it looks like is where the places you went to were as well.

St. Jean is really the best place to be. There is a frequent bus (Green, 800-series buses) along the corridor. Some places that we didn't go to, but I've heard of good things:

Le Projet - Spécialité Microbrasseries: 30 taps of micros.

The Duchess D'Aiguillon - Didn't go, but I heard it's like L'Axe du Malt bottle shop.

Avenue Laurier has some nice giant lampshade street lights that look cool. The best SAQ (Selection) in the city seems to be at Avenue Cartier/Rue Fraser.


We didn't touch St. Roch, but it seems to be the traditional shopping street with some nice dinning, bars, and coffee shops.


Highly recommend Quebec City, but similar to another table at dinner that I eavesdropped on; It's an awkward distance. The flights are expensive (relative to distance), the trains and driving are on the longer end, and Montreal is better on all those fronts from most places.

anthony9 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:04 am We didn't touch St. Roch, but it seems to be the traditional shopping street with some nice dinning, bars, and coffee shops.

Highly recommend Quebec City, but similar to another table at dinner that I eavesdropped on; It's an awkward distance. The flights are expensive (relative to distance), the trains and driving are on the longer end, and Montreal is better on all those fronts from most places.

St Roch is fun, there's a couple of breweries down the hill that way (Barberie, Korrigane) and other interesting spots to poke your head into.

I agree with that assessment - I have super fond memories of Quebec City, but it's a pricy flight or a long-ass drive, and as you mentioned Montreal is on the way with all kinds of stuff already.

It's worth it for sure to make the trek for Carnaval, especially if one has kids in tow. Quebeckers do know how to put on a a good winter festival.