Ashley Cotter-Cairns checks out a Montreal great beer shop: Supermarche Rahman.

Great beer shops: Supermarche Rahman, Montreal, QC, Canada
Submitted by Ashley Cotter-Cairns

To kick off our Great Beer Stores series, it's nice to be able to visit a must-stop location on the beer tour of Montreal.

Since my birthday in September, when I asked friends to buy me the 'oddest beers they could find' and my friends Adele and Ulrich turned up with seven beers from Rahman, I've been dying to get to the store and check out its legendary selection.

And by all accounts, this is only the THIRD-best beer shop in Montreal! The other two must be truly special.

Great Beer Shops: Depanneur Rahman on the Plateau de Montreal. Specialises in Quebec microbrews and limited imports. To qualify for Great Beer Store status, our featured retailers must meet several criteria.

1) Selection

Obviously the allure of a truly GREAT beer shop must be the scale of its offering.

Supermarche Rahman certainly does not disappoint in this respect. It isn't an EXHAUSTIVE selection of Quebec microbrews, but it does offer a vast range compared to almost any other retailer in town.

It is quite overwhelming, actually. I was prepared in advance to be impressed, but still found myself oh-ing and ah-ing every time I found another few bottles tucked into a dusty corner. I didn't count, but I'd hazard a guess at there being 200 different beers on offer in this store, including the regular everyday stuff like Guinness and Canadian macrobrews.

I found about a dozen or so seasonals, including some left over from Fall. You should be careful about this here. The shop has a reputation for beer that's past its due date. Obviously beer on lees (bottle fermented) doesn't matter, as it only gets better if it's well stored.

Supermarche Rahman also sells gift boxes, like the Unibroue 2004-2005 with two branded glasses, a steal at $19.99 plus tax and deposit, plus a limited range of glassware.

The front of shop display at Depanneur Rahman. Beers of the world (or at least, microbrews of Quebec) displayed like a museum exhibit! 2) Ease of purchase

This sounds like a silly point when you take into account the range on offer.

But a drive across the Quebec border into Ontario will soon demonstrate how frustrating it can be to be faced with a great range of beers, only to discover that most are available only in six packs or larger (The Beer Store, I'm looking at you).

Happily, while Supermarche Rahman does carry six packs and larger, almost every beer there is available in single bottle form.

This is a great service, especially if you're new to these brands and want to try before you commit to a larger purchase.

3) Price

The prices really were quite reasonable. Most 'normal' beers were between $2-3 plus tax and deposit.

You could really spend as much as you like here though, as they carry a lot of speciality beers. Some examples:

Unibroue 1837 ($7 for a bomber)
Freres Houblon Rousse d'Hiver limited edition ($7 for 500ml)
Unibroue 16 anniversary special ($10 for a bomber)
Three Musketeers Baltic Porter ($10 for a bomber)
McAuslan Raspberry ale ($4 for a boxed bottle)
MB Saint Arnould Brune Speciale ($15 for a special edition metal-labeled bottle. They also offered a limited edition box set with two matching glasses for an eye-watering $45)

Plenty of others fell into the gap, priced between $4 and $7.

4) Service

I was underwhelmed with the service. A very nice young guy was on the checkout, but he mainly chatted to a friend on the phone for the first half of my visit. He did point out the gift boxes, which saved me a few bucks (Unibroue 2004 and 2005 out of the box cost $5 more than the gift set!).

Apparently the owner is quite knowledgeable, so I'm sorry I didn't get to meet him.

All things considered, Supermarche Rahman is a great beer store It's so far ahead of everywhere else I've been in Montreal that I cannot help but recommend it. Make sure you have cash or an Interac card, as they don't accept Visa. Highly recommended.