In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
A bar owner enriches his menu with new colorful and improbable beers that change taste or color, that sting the tongue like the electrodes of a square battery, that bubble in large bubbles, that foam to the extreme or taste like cake or sparkling candy powder.
On a Saint-Denis street that has been commercially devastated for years, the owner of the microbrewery Le Saint-Bock decided to take major measures to attract people.
“Look at the street! It is empty! I have to offer an experience that cannot be found elsewhere to make it worth coming here,” says Martin Guimond.
“I want my beers to offer a spectacle as interesting as the program at Espace St-Denis next door.”
Louis-Philippe Messier
The Saint-Bock experience menu is breathtaking.
“Wow! It’s like Cirque du Soleil in beer!” exclaims the well-known butcher Dominique Rioux, my guinea pig for the experiment, in front of the colorful array of bubbling volcanic beers presented to her by Mr. Guimond.
“That’s really funny!” she exclaims over a Cumulus IPA with hop smoke bubbles.
Trails of smoke escape when she pops the bubbles with her finger or her nose.
The Cumulus IPA is covered in “clouds” of hoppy smoke in bubbles that burst when touched.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Watch out for the Or Liquide beer. It is sweet. We don’t suspect its 9% alcohol content.
My favorite: IPA Fusion, a flat beer without effervescence that gradually carbonates as you drink it… The carbon, in solid form, dissolves during the experience.
In short, it’s the opposite of a beer that’s very lively when you open it and loses its spiciness.
There, you have to know how to wait a little… for it to come back to life.
Electric beer
Two of the Saint-Bock experiments involve licking powders on the rim of the glass.
The button fruit powder causes an electric tingle on the tongue, it’s Electric Buzz beer.
The miracle fruit powder modifies taste perception, in the beer called La Miraculeuse, so that its acidic taste ends up seeming sweet… A strange experience.
The Miraculous, with red powder, increases the sensation of sweetness. The Electric Buzz makes the tongue tingle like the electrodes of a square battery.
Louis-Philippe Messier
The color-changing beer turns from gold to pale pink and tastes like cake…
This birthday cake beer goes from golden yellow to nana pink.
Louis-Philippe Messier
If your inner child is doing well and you’ve retained your love of candy, you’ll probably love Grape Blue Sour Fizz, a grape beer to which you add crystals that make it foam.
This blue grape beer becomes hyperfoaming and sour when you pour crystals into it.
Louis-Philippe Messier
“The foam rises so quickly that we have no choice but to swallow it as it goes, otherwise it will overflow!” said laughing Mme Rioux.
Congratulations
Frankly, I congratulate Martin Guimond for his audacity with his new range of beers that are not at all Catholic!
We can no longer count the defunct bars on rue Saint-Denis, the last being Patrick’s Pub, which closed its doors this week… In this difficult context, Saint-Bock uses the weapon of originality.
Mr. Guimond even pushes the nerve so far as to offer a beer cake under a smoke-filled glass dome.
The owner Martin Guimond presents a beer cake under a smoky bell.
Louis-Philippe Messier
“It’s clear that I’m coming back here with my boyfriends some girls!” swear Mme Rioux.
My prediction: TikTok and Instagram will soon attract many young people to this terrace and its spectacular beers.
