Mondial de la Biere! (Beer Fest, Canadian Style)

Good Morning (Bon Matin) from Canada!

After getting settled in the hostel we ventured out to find Mondial de la Biere (beer fest) and ended up doing some impromptu city exploring along the way. Montreal is tres mignon (so cute)! There was so much to see and it was such nice weather that we almost forgot to go to Beer Fest (have we lost our Wisconsin minds already!?)

Phen under the pink balloons in Gay Village

Christina in China Town

Curry and Ginger not watching where they are going

As we were searching for Beer Fest, we started to get really confused because we couldn't find anything even close to a festival. We assumed it would be outside with tents and signs and such, even if it was small. After consulting with a few locals and eventually the tourism desk, we found out the fest was inside a building similar to a convention center! 

Not quite like Oktoberfest?

We bought sampling glasses and tickets and began to sample all sorts of different beers from around Montreal and the world. We also found cheese, a Wisconsin necessity. 

Two pictures of cheese were necessary

Our beer selections are below avec commentary and percentages so you can calculate our BACs. We're BAs with BSs.

Phen:

1. Boque biere Oatmeal Stout a l'avoine 5.5%

    Creamy, rich, coffee flavoured

2. Les trois mousquetaires Maibock 6.8%

    Really good and light

3. Alexander Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale 5.5%

    Hoppy, yes, but still flavorful. Friendly pourer Jonny gave AK a good rep! *

4. Molson Canadian Wheat 4.5%

    Apparently the most popular Canadian Canadienne biere. Did you know the Canadians love to     

   drink Old Milwaukee!? Who are they?

5. Dieu du Ciel Aphrodiasque 6.5%

    Not sure if it totally lived up to its title, but it was pretty sweet.

6. Le Succursale Petite cote 4.8%

    Lighter beer, twas okay.

7. McKeown Draft Cider- Cranberry (probs was like 0.5%)

    Like JUICE!

*Picture with Jonny!

Christina:

1. Boque biere India Pale Ale 6.5%

    Strong, bitter beer with a lot of flavour

2. Les trois mousquetaires Maibock 6.8%

    Really good and light (my favourite!)

3. Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale 5.5%

    Hoppy, yes, but still flavorful. Not the typical bitter taste you would expect with a super hoppy beer.

4. Molson Canadian Wheat 4.5%

    See Phen's commentary

5. Dieu du Ciel Rescousee 5.3% 

    This was a traditional German beer flavour and I enjoyed it!

6. Le Succursale Gratzer 3.2%

    This was the most interesting beer I tried all day, the malt was smoked with sausage so the beer had 

    a sausage flavor to it. Beer and sausauge already go together and this tasted like kielbasa in liquid, 

    alcoholic form. A German delight!!

7. Krombacher Dark

    Apparently Germany's premium beer brand, the dark was flavorful and strong but very easy to     

   drink.

After Beer Fest, we ventured back to the hostel just in time for Trivia!! We were split into teams by nationality so Phen and I were split up. There were three teams of about 5 people including Germans, Australians, and Brazilians. We played a few rounds which were very different than the trivia we were used to back home. They included picture questions, find the common word, and category lists-- all with sudden elimination from the round if you guess an incorrect answer. The final came down to my (Christina) team and another team of foreigners. We won, go America! (and other countries involved) Our prize was a free beer which we shared because Phen ended up helping the team win in the final anyway. 

Basically, it's getting MontREAL up in here. 

Until next time,

G&C