United Nations of Beer

Peel Pub, Montreal

by Trevor Prosser
(Beer Delegate, QC, Canada)

Peel Pub
Montreal, QC, Canada

This will be my first installment written from beautiful Montreal, Quebec. As an anglo fella from Alberta who speaks an appallingly small amount of French, knows very few people in town, and has a thirst for adventure - not to mention beer - I'm seeing this town from what might be a little different situation than the average Montreal beer expert - more of a tourist kinda point of view, I guess.

So, they say write what you know. Here's my first installment of Drinking in Montreal.

To give you a bit o' history, my folks grew up in Montreal, so when I moved out here, my dad came with me for the trip. It was a great trip, and I had a blast spending time with my father. And one of the things we had to do while he was here was pay a visit to an old friend.

The Peel Pub.

Of course, I've heard that it's moved locations since then (my dad couldn't quite recall, for some odd reason), but it's a Montreal institution, so where better to begin drinking in Montreal?

We found the place easily enough, although their signs aren't the most obvious in town. The bar was less than half full, but those who were there gave every indication that they had either been these for quite a while, or were intending to.

We had a good little lunch, downed a few pitchers, watched some sports on the numerous televisions, and rather enjoyed ourselves. So much so, that I decided to head back a week or so later, once my father had headed back to the West, so that I might concentrate on the place for a proper review.

I found myself a spot under the stairs a little past 2pm on a weekday. It was, by no means, busy, but certainly not as empty as one would expect given the time. My waitress, a cutie named Justine, accommodated my horrible French with a smile, and brought me a 60oz pitcher of the house beer - excuse me, biere maison - a lovely pilsner that would overwhelm a Saskatchewanite and please a Torontoian. While not quite as cold as I would have liked, even on the first glass, and despite sporting more head than... nah, I won't go there. But it was a fine beer - dry, almost reminiscent of a good white wine. Almost too upper-crust for the food.


And oh boy, the food! Since the move to Quebec, I've been eating like I'm in college again - poutine, hot dogs, smoked meat sandwiches, tortierre... I tell ya, I can't get enough! And the Peel Pub is a great example. While they only seem to serve smoked meat sandwiches on Thursdays (a great disappointment to my dad, as you can imagine) I managed to time my visit with this daily special. I won't dwell on it, since this ain't the United Nations of Smoked Meat (note to self, check to see if that domain in available), it was a good sandwich that matched well to the biere. And the food prices in the Peel Pub ensure that you can drink to your liver's content as you mange!

For dessert (they almost insisted!), I went with a tasty slice of apple pie, and a pint of the house rousse - a spicy, warm flavoured beer with a hint of chocolate and tones of oak. It was a great drink, fuller than the pils, with an aftertaste that was heavy on the tongue, but not unpleasantly so.

All in all, a great place that, I've been told, everyone already knows about, but not everyone has actually gone to. C'mon, get out there! And get the Canadian special: two grilled hot dogs with poutine for under five bucks! Paired with a house beer, or any of the numerous tap/bottled selections available, you can't go wrong!

Bon journey!