Ninkasi Pilgrimage 20Feb18

NINKASI PILGRIMAGE*

The germ of an idea became reality Tuesday 20 February 2018. We've all reached an age where we can appreciate flavours beyond Coors Light. We were tired of complaining about the pitiful quality of the available beer on the strip of Decarie Blvd. in Saint-Laurent we frequent.

A simple web search revealed that Montreal was awash in local brew pubs sprinkled all over but not in Saint-Laurent. 

Check the article at this link:

25 Essential Montreal Microbreweries

We knew the major actors – McAuslin, Brutopia and Trois Brasseurs, but there were many others to explore and slowly we developed a plan. First we had to pick a date, then a place and then how to get there. Liam stepped up to the plate as designated driver and Tom referred us to an east end brewpub run by some old friends of his.

L’Espace Public – Brasseurs de quartier
3632, Ontario Est
Montréal, QC, H1W1R7

contact: info@lespacepublic.ca

http://www.lespacepublic.ca/

This is truly a neighbourhood pub frequented by local folks – very cosy. 

Simon, is the brewmaster. He has been in the business for many years and cut his teeth in the McAuslin operation. 

He and his partner Aryana greeted us as we arrived. He was determined to educate us about sour beers. He laid out a spread of a blond, an IPA, a raspberry and a stout done in the sour style. Absolutely delicious. This was what we were looking for, a challenge to our taste buds.

 Simon followed the tasting with a tour of the brewing operation in the basement, very impressive and informative.

By this time, the pilgrims, who had gathered and tasted, resolved to continue our quest on a regular basis. We developed criteria for including new pilgrims in future quests. “Pilgimage”, “Quest”, “Guild” all sound better than pub crawl, drinking spree, and boozers so we chose names to elevate the tone of this adventure.

We had also become quite hungry and opted to travel westward on Ontario Street, to our next brewpub, Station Ho.st – just check the address as you travel there because we didn't see a sign outside of a rather non-decript exterior. However, step inside and you know you are in another neighbourhood pub.

http://stationhost.ca/microbrasserie/alcools/

Station Ho.st

1494 Ontario Est,

Montréal, Québec H2L 1S3

Coin Ontario/Alexandre-de-Sève.

Info@stationhost.ca

514 564-4678

Another round of tasters and really good pub grub.

*Some of the earliest Sumerian writings contain references to beer; examples include a prayer to the goddess (of beer) Ninkasi, known as "The Hymn to Ninkasi", which served as both a prayer as well as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people, and the ancient advice (Fill your belly. Day and night make merry) to Gilgamesh, recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh, by the ale-wife Sidurimay, at least in part, have referred to the consumption of beer. The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, show that beer was produced in the city in 2500 BC.

Ninkasi is also a goddess of healing.

wikipedia