La Barberie

bobsy

Ontario (Canada)

4.08/5  rDev +4.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $

Small brewpub, which is not all that far from the old town. Stepping in off the street, my first impression is 'wow, this takes me back'. Friday night, and this place is a student bar. Luckily at 26, this isn't a problem for me, and I appreciate cheap beer as much as my well-educated friends. Really, really packed, and a little dive bar vibe. Nonetheless, we were shown to our rickety table by a lady who proceded to have a conversation with me about how could she make it more steady. My french isn't bad, but this was a stretch. Just nod and say 'oui'. We ordered the taster carousel of galopins, which included one of each of the eight brews currently on tap. The beers were very hit and miss, but all were in good condition. Our server was friendly and helpful, explaining in english how we should drink from light to dark.

This was a good experience, and nice to be somewhere surrounded by locals instead of tourists.

02-12-2008 14:50:23 | More by bobsy

kenito799

New York

4.5/5  rDev +15.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

Visiting Quebec City for a conference and extremely charmed by this friendly down-to-earth town. The hills and ridges make navigating fun and challenging until you find where the stairs and roads are that connect the different sections of town. We wandered from the upper town to Saint-Roch seeking La Barberie on a warm Sunday evening in June as the sunlight lingered until 9pm. The unassuming, quiet residential streets led to this super-charming brew-pub.

There is a great terrace shaded by trees and a cosy little bar area inside. Only Qubecois here, although the bartender (as everyone in QC seems to do) tried her best to speak English with us, very friendly. The bathroom towel dispenser advertised that they particpate in a composting project with the brown towels you use to dry your hands, please deposit them in the special container for this purpose. The bar area was filled wth laptop users, there must be wifi. Extremely friendly, warm, casual, relaxed vibe from everyone in the place.

Sunday there was a special of chocolates from a local chocolatier (Champagne) that we were told would be best with the dark beers.
We ordred the carousel galopins, which allowed us to taste 8 nicely made artisanal beers including three stouts that complemented the chocolates very well indeed:
Stout Double Chocolate--very dark roasted malt, coffee grounds-bitter edge, excellent
Stout Imperial--dark roasted, sweeter and higher alcohol, also very wel done
Stout Irlandaise--creamy mouthfeel spot on for the style, fuller flavored than Guinness, liked this one a lot too
and the other 5, in the order I liked them:
Pale Ale Anglaise
Brasse-Camarade
Cuivree du The (Earl grey)
Blonde (100% Quebecois malt)
Cuivree Cream Ale

Most of these beers were very well made and the overall ambience of the place and the neighborhood make this place a must-visit when in Quebec City.

06-18-2007 04:18:40 | More by kenito799

Beersignal

Quebec (Canada)

3.7/5  rDev -5.1%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4

What better way to spend a boxing day afternoon than to sit one's ass on a barstool and proceed to taste all of the offerings available on tap at one of Quebec City's finest brewpubs. After I dropped off my wife and her cousin at the mall, I made a b-line straight for La Barberie in Quebec City's quartier St-Roch.

Apart from one of the brewery employees and the waitress, I was the only patron in the frigid bar area of this micro. The athmosphere was, to say the least, quiet and, taking into account the -18 celcius temp. (that's -2 F for those metrically challenged) outside, very cool. I snuggled up to the bar and ordered a ''caroussel de galopins''.

The bar constantly has 8 tap offerings and there are two ways to sample all. 1) As mentioned above, the ''caroussel de galopins'', is a small turntable from which hang 8 x 5 oz. glasses filled to the point of spillage with the beers. The other way is almost identical except the glasses contain a full 12 oz. serving. I wouldn't suggest anyone drive after this sampling. The beers are arranged by number and the waitress gives instructions on which order the beers should be sampled... from lightest to darkest, perhaps not the most advantageous way to do a sampling but it worked with the tap offerings this time around.

Although I can't say I was blown away by all 8 beers, I was certainly impressed by the freshness of the products. Floral hop aromas and crisp malt, and yeast flavours overflowed in all beers sampled and I was particularly impressed by the IPA (a beautifully balanced malty and hoppy brew) the stout au café équitable (fair share coffee) and my humdinger for the afternoon, the blonde forte bio (see review).

I was assured by the staff that the athmosphere and temperature do warm up in the evening and if ever I was in the area again on a sunday evening to drop by for the soirée stout & chocolat. Chocolate and coffee stouts served all evening. I will be back.

12-28-2004 18:25:37 | More by Beersignal

hbis2gut

New Hampshire

4.34/5  rDev +11.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5

This one is easy to miss in terms of driving. The location itself leaves alot to be desired since the only view from the pub is of the overpass and highway.
Once inside, the atmosphere is warm and welcoming(I went at the end of November) and the place lingers with the aroma of a Flanders Red. The aroma is not surprising since I felt most of the beers had a common "Belgianess" to them.
No neon signs or pokeno machines to be found here. The bar is the central focus to the room with comfortable chairs as well as small, intimate tables with tasteful local paintings on the walls.
The only staff during my visit was a female bartender who was pleasant and helpful despite being seemingly uncomfortable with english. There were no descriptions of the eight beers available and all the names were in French. Not knowing french, it is still easy to figure out most of the names eg: Stout au Cafe (Stout with coffee).
The pints were affordable at roughly $4.00 Canadian each. Sampler "plates" were also available in two different sizes. Most importantly for me, this place was designated "no smoking" which is a nice touch when you are serious about tasting your beer. There was no food available that I could see but this city is awash in good bistros and restaurants. I think they would do well to offer a plate of local specialty cheeses. A cheese plate and a chess board and I might not have left.
Did I mention clean bathrooms as well as all beers brewed on site? This one is a "no brainer" for real beer in Quebec.

11-28-2004 23:12:30 | More by hbis2gut

francisweizen

Australia

4.3/5  rDev +10.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5

La Barberie is an excellent brewpub that I just learned about this past June when I sample 15+ of their beers at the Mondial De La Biere in Montreal. The excellent beers and cool looking booth we're enough to keep me coming back every day we were at the Mondial, and when Erica and I left for a three day holiday in Quebec City for labor day weekend, we knew that we had to go to this excellent little co-op brewery. La Barberie is on Rue Saint-Roch, which is a pretty small street about 5 blocks away from the Old Quebec City walls, and just under the highway. The atmosphere is cool with an excellent outdoor patio that was packed, and an empty barroom. The barroom was cool and wooden, and it had the same look and feel as their booth at the Mondial had. The quality of La Barberies beers is excellent in general, just look at some of my reviews. Oh, and all of the beers on tap we're in excellent condition as well. The service was pretty fast and courteous. The bartender spoke enough English to understand our orders, although if you are in Quebec city you should know enough French to order in the native language anyway. The French beer list had 8 draught beers on it (that rotate FREQUENTLY) on our last visit they had the following brews on tap:
Fruivole
Blonde
Red
Imperial Stout (Russian?)
Organic Rust Hemp Ale
Rust Bitter
Belgian Blanche w/Framboise
Extra Stock Ale
We sampled all of them (the sampler consists of 5oz glasses of all 8 tap brews for just $10 Canadian!) oh and pints we're only $4.50 Canadian, even for the imperial stout!
As for the food we did not try any and it looks like not much, if anything, was available.

OH, and as a side note, at the inside bar room you can look at their TINY brewing set-up, and also buy certain bottles of their bottled beer and t-shirts etc. Oh, and various grocery stores, and delis in Quebec City sell bottles La Barberie brews as well, but watch out, the bottles are inconsistent compared to the draught products, and some, or all of them are contract brewed!

09-15-2004 16:33:58 | More by francisweizen

QXSTER1

Pennsylvania

4.14/5  rDev +6.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5

Here is a beer geeks destination in Quebec City. If you can hold up some fingers to tell the bartender which micro you would like you're in good shape. Eight choices were available on my visit. They are written in French of course but fairly easy to figure out. With my limited French I was able to overcome the barrier and get a few tastes before I ordered. Don't worry about the rough looking crowd standing outside when you arrive, it's only the smokers catching a butt due to the non-smoking barroom.
I've been to L'Inox and would recommend La Barbarie over that brewpub. This is a place to go and try some craft beers with a french accent.

07-06-2004 22:55:21 | More by QXSTER1

jrancan

New Jersey

3.7/5  rDev -5.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5

I can honestly say I have never seen a place like this in my life. I still can't even figure out if I loved it, or hated it. This is actually a microbrewery that has a little bar attached to it. The tiny room which consists of a square bar and about a dozen seats looks like it was fashioned out of plywood from Home Depot. A few beer signs and some peanuts were our entertainment. The selection consisted of 6 beers, that's it......no booze, soda, hell, I don't even think they had water! The bartender only spoke French and since me and my girlfriend were the only customers, we had to point to the tap handles that we wanted to try. Ended up trying all of them with a scotch ale (i think) being the highlight. Nothing else really stood out. Located near the train station, it's not easy to find but it's definitely an experience.

08-27-2002 09:29:21 | More by jrancan