As we all know, Chris Roberson is in the bar. But which bar, exactly? Where are people going to gather to drink in Montreal? That was one of the questions Kevin and I have been trying to answer today. We are not having much luck.
The obvious places to look were the Intercontinental and Embassy Suites. Both hotels are very close to the Palais, and experience from Denver suggested that the drinking crowd would not want to have to walk all the way to the party hotel. However, the Intercontinental is currently undergoing renovations and we didn’t even manage to find a bar in there. The Embassy Suites does have a bar, but it is way too small for our group.
Google is not much help. A search for pubs in Montreal didn’t find any sponsored links within easy reach of the Palais, but there are a couple of non-sponsored possibilities that we need to look into. So I guess it is out onto the streets again for us.
Update: Well, that wasn’t hugely successful. Here’s what we found.
The bar in the Holiday Inn has a fair amount of good seating space, but the beer selection is poor. It would be a good place to meet up if you are planning an expedition into Chinatown, but I don’t think it is a good prospect for serious drinking.
Also at the Chinatown end of the Palais is a small, boutique hotel called Place D’Armes. It boasts a lounge bar called Suite 701. It looks like a place for serious martini drinkers, and is probably quite expensive.
The main entrance to the Intercontinental is on Rue Saint-Jacques, and by going in that way we found a small bar attached to an expensive restaurant. Again it doesn’t look like a serious drinking venue, but at least poor Jonathan won’t expire.
Across the road is a place called Pub St. James, but it looks like it has gone out of business. There’s also a tapas bar, but it advertises DJs, and free drinks for women on Tuesdays, which I think tells you everything you need to know about its purpose.
So we went back to the Delta. The bar there is OK. There’s a fair amount of seating space, and it has a better beer selection than the Holiday Inn. It is only about 5 minutes walk from the Palais, and the evening programming and parties will be there. We explained to the manager than in August we’d be bringing along a large number of crazy British beer fanatics who would drink her establishment dry and she didn’t faint with shock.
There are a couple of Irish pubs a bit further away, but unless anyone has any better suggestions it looks like the Delta will be the bar of choice.
I think Chris smells beer the way bloodhounds smell escaped convicts. All we have to do is follow him.
Can’t go to Montreal. Cancel! No bar in my hotel?!? How does that work?!?
I am sorry to disappoint those who depend on my beer-seeking abilities, but my bloodhound’s nose will be sniffing out beer here in Austin that week. There just wasn’t room in the budget for a trip to Montreal this year, sad to say. (From my experience seeking out beverages in Montreal for the 2001 WFC though, with varying degrees of success, I anticipate that you congoers might have a tough row to hoe this year…)
Cheryl — Thanks for this report. The best way to find where the pros are is to draw the shortest line between the convention and the alcohol. Did you by any chance get to check out the Hyatt?
Go to this link, hit the button that says “Photos” and then go to image #22 and #23. That seems promising.
http://montreal.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/index.jsp;jsessionid=LKGJOCFCD3UHACTEAGCCFEYKMQAYKIV0
Disappointed to hear that you couldn’t find a bar at the Intercontinental. Ugh. That’s where me and Lou are staying….
John:
We didn’t check the Hyatt because we were under the impression that the convention didn’t have a deal with. However, checking with the Anticipation web site, it is listed on the hotel map, so perhaps they do. The hotel is part of the big Complexe Des Jardins mall and is quite convenient for Chinatown (though not as close as the Holiday Inn).
According to the Intercontinental’s web site, the refurbishment will be finished by the end of May, so perhaps there will be a bar available then. There was a lot of construction happening when we went round it.
I’ll make sure we post info. Now that I’ve attended a convention (admittedly a hacker event, not an sf con) where you can *gasp* walk around with your drink as if you were at a British con, I’m spoilt.
V:
Please do get people to check back with the Intercontinental. It may be a lot better once the construction has finished.