The best microbreweries in Montreal

Opened on May 17, 2016 at 951 Rachel East, in the former home of Les Pas Sages, a block from La Banquise, Pub Pit Caribou is the Montreal outpost of the Gaspé microbrewery founded in 2007 in L'Anse-à-Beaufils by **Francis Joncas and Benoît Couillard**. Named after a drunkard character from the classic Quebec series *Les Belles Histoires des Pays d'en haut*, the brewery now produces over 550,000 litres a year and has planted its pipe-smoking fisherman logo in fridges across the province.

On Rachel, a rotating set of ten house taps pours the full lineup (American IPA des Appalaches, Session IPA de Lesseps, smoked Sticke Alt, Berliner Weisse, porter), alongside five or six guest lines from fellow Eastern Quebec microbreweries rarely seen in town.

The kitchen follows one principle: **Gaspésie on a plate**. Trout rillettes, pickled herring, smoked salmon, Eastern Quebec cheeses, a Portuguese poutine often rated better than the one across the street, and monthly tap takeovers with friends of the brewery. Stylised nautical decor, clean lines and a lower-St-Lawrence cabin feel on the Plateau: a shortcut to tasting the peninsula without the twelve-hour drive.

Opened in August 2019 by three musicians-turned-entrepreneurs, **Marc-André Filion** (rapper with La Carabine), **Sébastien Chaput** (guitarist for metal band Ion Dissonance) and **Vincent Ménard** (former drummer with The Last Felony), Messorem Bracitorium, Latin for "the reaper's brewery", inhabits a cavernous former factory along the Lachine Canal, at the corner of Pitt and Saint-Patrick.

Head brewer Vincent, trained at Auval, Pit Caribou and Les Trois Mousquetaires, crafts heavily hopped IPAs and DIPAs in the spirit of Other Half and Hudson Valley, alongside the famed *Petits jus de mort*, fruit-puree smoothie sours that built the brewery's reputation.

The industrial taproom, with its carefully designed branding by co-founder Marc-André, opens onto one of Montreal's largest terraces: 250 seats scattered among murals by Make Noize, LeBicar and Shepard Fairey. Cyclists stop in after riding the canal path, families gather around smash burgers and poutine from Mitch Deli, and beer geeks hunt down limited releases aged in French oak foudres and bourbon barrels. An essential Southwest address for anyone chasing some of the finest craft beer in town.

Opened in May 2021 at 7141 Saint-André Street by **David Goudreau and Alexandre Pontbriand**, childhood friends and former ad-agency workers who jumped into brewing, Mellön is one of the sharpest neighbourhood microbreweries in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie. The name, borrowed from Tolkien's Elvish ("speak, friend, and enter"), captures the ambition of the place: a bright, minimalist taproom inspired by Toronto breweries like Bellwoods, where long picnic tables and wide street-facing windows invite you to linger.

Alexandre, trained at the Institut Brassicole du Québec and seasoned at Avant-Garde, Beauregard and Saint-Houblon, has built a specialty in **crushable beers around 5%**: Czech-inspired all-Saaz pilsners, long-lagered Munich Helles, Italian pils with cold dry-hopping, dry saisons and IPAs. Something new lands nearly every two weeks, alongside a parallel program of sour beers in foudre and barrel-aged experiments.

Eight constantly rotating taps, cans to go, a small summer terrace and a deliberately limited snack menu: you come here for the beer, first and foremost, and for the technical rigour behind it.

Opened in 2014 at 1039 Beaubien East by five longtime friends — Matthieu Gauthier and Marc-Aurèle Lussier (Café du Nouveau Monde), Michaël Ruel (Saint-Bock), Simon Chantal and head brewer Olivier Dupras — Isle de Garde has become one of Montreal's most refined beer bars. Dupras, backed by Isaël Dagenais (ex-Dieu du Ciel !, Cheval Blanc), specialises in the European traditions most Quebec microbreweries tend to skip: Bavarian Weissbier, Czech Světlý Výčepní, German Lagerbier, English Bitter pulled from a cask, alongside sour and hop-forward brews of genuine precision. The two paired rooms — raw wood, metal, a long bar, dim lighting after dusk — run around twenty taps on constant rotation, backed by a thoughtful list of natural wines, sakes, ciders and private-import whiskies. The kitchen keeps pace: a 40-day aged burger from Boucherie Le Marchand du Bourg, a tight seasonal menu, consistently ranked among the city's best bar food. Ten years in, it remains a true neighbourhood spot where regulars greet the staff by name and the summer terrace fills by noon — a benchmark of Montreal's current craft-beer scene.

Set into the former industrial warehouses of Saint-Patrick Street, a stone's throw from the Lachine Canal, Memento spreads 220 seats across two floors and five distinct sections, plus a 100-seat waterfront tented terrace. Part of the **A/Maze Entertainment** group, the brewery leans fully into its aesthetic: geek culture, old-school cartoons, video games and comic books splashed across walls, furniture and beer labels.

The in-house brewing team runs a wide range: clean pilsners, funky ales, and the brewery's quiet pride, barrel-aged beers that deepen in oak over months. Games are free and central to the concept: ping-pong, foosball, darts, retro arcades and shared board games, plus themed nights and recurring tournaments.

The kitchen keeps things unfussy and generous: melty grilled cheeses, reinvented hot dogs, poutines, burgers, charcuterie and cheese boards, and a recent weekend brunch built around signature savoury-sweet waffles. Dogs welcome on the terrace, ground floor accessible, groups from 20 to 200: one of the most versatile addresses in the Southwest's craft-beer scene.