The Montreal Beer Scene, part one: Forquet Fourchette, by Steve LaRue.
"Beers of the world, unite!"
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The Montreal Beer Scene,
part one: Forquet Fourchette
Submitted by Steve
LaRue
I
recently returned to Utah from my first visit to Montreal, QC. Montreal
is a great beer city
with almost as many breweries and brewpubs as Seattle, WA.
If you are planning on visiting Montreal for the first time, I would recommend a train or plane ride and forgoing the car. Find a hotel downtown or close to the Metro line and ride the train everywhere. Most of the brewpubs in the city are within a few blocks of the Metro.
The interesting thing that I found about the Quebec biere scene is that even though the predominant culture is French, most of the brewers embrace the Belgian style. I found this rather unusual as I was hoping to be able to try some French styles like champagnoise or biere de garde.
During
my visit I had the good fortune to be invited to participate as the
Utah
Delegate at a summit with the Secretary General and several of his
rugby
buddies and other friends.
We met at the Sergeant Recreuter brewpub and then continued on a short pub crawl to Reservoir. A great time was had by all and it is really cool to be able to travel and be able to connect with such really nice people.
Since my ability to pick up on certain flavors in a beer are a work in progress, I will do my best to review the beers I tried while being as objective as possible.
You will find that when you visit these establishments that they all do at least one of their beers very well. That makes visiting as many as possible mandatory as finding your favorite will make each visit memorable.
I will give a short overview of each of the pubs I visited as well as the nearest Metro stop. My visit to the renowned beer shop Metro Joanette also resulted in a few bottles from some of the other breweries in Quebec.
If you are accustomed to the brewpub, predominant in the US, that are open for both lunch and dinner and have a full restaurant menu, you might be disappointed. Most of the brewpubs don't open until 3:00 PM and have limited menus.
They are actually more nightclubs than restaurants. There are a couple that are "traditional" brewpubs and those features will be mentioned in the reviews. I will also state that although the sidewalks aren't rolled up on Sundays, parts of downtown Montreal are pretty quiet on Sunday evening.
Forquet Fourchette
Immediately after checking in to my hotel I took to the streets and was able to find Fourquet Fourchette very easily at the Place d'Armes Metro Station. Fouquet Fourchette is a Unibroue-tied house. They are normally closed on Sunday, but were hosting a private party and were happy to seat me.
The servers I
encountered at Forquet Fourchette were all very knowledgeable and
helpful, all spoke English
and knew
a lot about their beers and the food that should be paired with them.
I observed servers turning the bottled beers so that the lees would mix when the beer was poured into a glass. There are several draft and bottled selections available at Forquet Fourchette, all brewed at the brewery in Chambly. I tried a sampler set of the draft offerings:
Blanche de Chambly (5% ABV) is a pale yellow unfiltered Belgian style wit with lots of coriander and orange aroma and banana and coriander in the flavor.
Raftman Amber (5.5% ABV) is dark gold amber made with whisky malt. There is a slight smokiness in the aroma and the flavor is very malty and sweet. The smokiness is more in the aroma than in the flavor. Forquet Fourchette pairs this beer with a cheese and smoked meat plate (see below).
Eau Benite (7.7% ABV) is a very strong, gold colored unfiltered ale that has corn in the grain bill. The corn is very evident in both the aroma and flavor and also adds a creamy mouthfeel to the beer.
Maudite (Red, 8% ABV) is more brown than red in color. Currants and fruit in the aroma and slightly peppery/spicy in the flavor. Sort of an acquired taste.
La Fin du Monde (Blonde, 9% ABV) is a filtered, pale gold ale that is a lot like the wit but has a more subdued fruitiness. The alcohol is very evident and adds a nice spiciness to this beer.
Trois Pistoles (Brown, 9% ABV) is very malty with an aroma of blackberry and banana. The malt sweetness offsets the fruit. This one is very alcoholic in both aroma and flavor and even with the high alcohol has a lot of residual sugar.
The menu at Forquet Fourchette is very large and offers selections often referred to as "terroir", or local products. Lots of wild game, local cheeses and sausages. Some of the menu selections are plates of cheeses and smoked meats paired with certain beers.
I
tried the Raftman Cheese
Plate (Cheddar, Cantonier, St. Damase Brie)
and the
Raftman Smoked Meat Plate
(venison salami, smoked duck breast, poultry
liver
mousse, duck terrine).
These plates were also served with an amazing unleavened caraway bread. All of the items were paired with a couple of pints of the Raftman. Here's how they paired up.
Cantonier: very creamy and enhanced smoked malt flavor of beer.
Smoked
duck breast: very smoky and also enhances smokiness in the
beer.
Liver
mousse: beer smooths bitterness of liver. Only gets better.
Brie:
sharp
and tangy but flavor fades quickly with the strong flavors of the beer.
Duck
terrine: very fatty and gamy. Beer enhances gaminess. Not
the best
pairing.
Cheddar:
nicely
aged, creamy and very sharp. Beer cuts sharpness nicely.
Venison
salami: nice smoky flavor and neither fatty or dry. Not
immediately
appetizing,
but actually improved as I got into it.
Forquet Fourchette is well worth a visit if you're in Montreal with a few hours to kill.
In part
two of this article, Steve reviews
Dieu
du Ciel.
Submit your own reviews of
Forquet Fourchette
or any other bar or pub!
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