La Barberie

alesafe88

New York

2.48/5  rDev -36.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 1 | service: 4 | selection: 2 | $$

My girlfriend and I were up here on vacation and were desperate for a decent beer. We'd been all over Quebec City and on the advice of a cheese shop clerk (excellent cheese!) we headed down to La Barberie. Wow, what a mistake!

The atmosphere and overall vibe was great! We were convinced that this was going to at last be the beer stop we were looking for. Boy, were we wrong. We tried beers 1-8 on the tasting menu. I can't even recall what most of these watery swills were, but suffice it to say that it tasted as if Keystone Light were reflavored with various fruits and spices and passed through a Britta filter before coming to the table. One example was Sangria beer and another was ginger and lime. In the first case our Keystone had been cut with half Sangria. In the second, lime and ginger had been added to Keystone. In other words, no attempt was made to craft beer. Rather, bad beer was flavored in multiple ways before coming to the table. Not sure if this is actually how they made it, but it sure tasted like they did.

The only hope for this brewery would be (IMHO) to start over with a good, strong, flavorful ale and build from there. Without some decent beer in the lower register they're not going to make good blends.

07-19-2009 00:09:26 | More by alesafe88

Goldorak

Quebec (Canada)

2.8/5  rDev -28.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $

I've got a few friends living in Quebec city and my fiancé and I always get invited, but rarely ever go. But this time a couple we know just got a baby, and there's the whole 400th anniversary of the city going down, so why not. And every time we do get there, we're always end up telling ourselves 'why don't we come here more often? It looks just a great as any old town in Europe and it's only a few hous away!'

Anywhoo, the only parking lot with spots left close to the 400 festivities was, as luck would have it, right in front of Barberie. It's in the basse-ville section, tucked in a quiet corner near the sweet looking train station, next to an overpass (and the aforementioned parking lot), where few tourists find their way. So it was pretty quiet, save for a few 20-something hipster locals.

The overall atmosphere can be summed up as 'hippie'. It's a work co-op, so it's a bit worn down and not too organized, but warm and welcoming. Plenty of potted plants, paintings on the walls - some of the walls themselves are painted murals - with a few board games laying around. The cozy patio was open, and offered plenty of shade.

A lone server eventually came up to us. He seemed to know his products somewhat, but was dumbfounded when my friend asked him how fizzy the Beer he was thinking of ordering was. 'It's fizzy like Beer' he answered. Enlightening! But he served us fast enough.

8 Beers on the menu, pretty much all of them were of the freak show variety. Honey stout? Lime and Raspberry amber? Lime and Ginger Blonde? There's nothing wrong with the occasional off-the-wall Beer, but this is just too weird. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if they were actually well brewed, but more often than not they show very perceptible faults. Minou and her pal went for the Lime & Raspberry, which smelled like a bad hair salon and tasted like artificial lemon juice. My other friend's Lime & Ginger was okay, but only in the 'I'm glad I only got a 3oz taster of this' kind of way. My pint of IPA, the only 'conservative' Beer on the menu, was not overly hoppy, but good enough.

Do I recomend going out of your way to have a drink here? For the atmosphere, sure, but caveat emptor, it's always a crapshoot with the Beers and that's unfortunate. But prices are on the cheap side. And stay away from the Beer-to-go option in those mason jars, I drank one once litterally minutes after I got served and it was ruined. No food available, but you're a short walk away from the pier market, ten million tourist trap restaurants and a decent pizza place called Pizza Mag. Look it up.

08-17-2008 21:36:10 | More by Goldorak

Glory

Quebec (Canada)

3.48/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $

A little place out of nowhere but quite friendly and comfortable.
The bar is in the center of the room and the beer list is writen on the chalkboard.

9 beers on tap and two or three of them are conservative styles of beer. You get everything between Fruity to Pine to Vanilla, Chardonay and even tea...I'm not a fan of these type of mixes.

I also got a IPA from the cask with is great..you gotta love cask beers

They serve samplings in a little tray witch is very nice and inexpensive.

I was'nt really impressed with the beer except the Amber with earl grey tea witch was verry uncommon and suprising.
But overall they should try getting only four beers and doing them right before making any crazy type of mixes with fruit and herbs.

The staff member there was very nice and helpfull. He had every info on the beer !
They do not have the permit for food and its a Work Coop

I think every beer lover should at least stop at La Barberie when in Québec city.

Cheers Lads

WS

01-08-2011 18:32:49 | More by Glory

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

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

nickfl

Florida

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

I stopped by this place while on vacation in Quebec. It is a bit out of the way, but not too far from the historic district. It is in a nondescript building and at first I was afraid it might be closed but one I found the door it was actually quite busy, even on a Tuesday afternoon. The taproom was quite cozy, lots of wood and handmade pitchers hanging above the bar. They have a sampler, which conveniently included all eight of the beers that they had on tap. The beer itself was enjoyable, some were more interesting than good, but I have the impression that taps rotate frequently so that helps to explain the odd ingredients. Service was good, though they took cash only. Worth checking out and seemingly the best bet for local beer in Quebec City.

01-16-2012 00:29:02 | More by nickfl

irishkyle21

Ontario (Canada)

3.84/5  rDev -1.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $

It was a cold August night but I like patios so thats where we ended up. We ended up here after some sightseeing (around 10 on a Thursday). The place was pretty busy but not crowded. I was going to get a carousel sampler but we didn't have the time so I downed 3 quick pints. The three beers I had were mild of the pack, nothing that made me jump, just good drinkable beers. The service was good and the prices rather cheap. We didn't have any food (I don't even think they have any) cause we just ate at a little restaurant. I had a great time in Quebec City and La Barberie helped by quenching my thirst for beer.

09-11-2008 05:31:28 | More by irishkyle21

ZorPrime

Quebec (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev +0.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Well, this place is somewhat strange for a brewpub, or at least for me. Nice looking although seems a little bit on the cheap side... Tables and chairs looks all funny and the overall look is quite fun since the table and chairs are all from different sets! Nothing is the same there.

Ordered a sampler since it was my first time there and all their selected beers I had never tasted!

When I went there, there was a good choice of beers (I went there in June 2008). The beer choice was good. Actually the only bad beer, IMO, was the SANGRI-BIÈRE which I don't like at all. Found that the Rousse Bitter is quite nice, one of my favorite. Nice color and nice taste. Very resfreshing! Another one, Blanche au Agrume et Miel... simply awesome. Very nice beer for a hot sunny day. I'm so glad that they bottle that one for Le Monde de la Bière grocery.

Another fine beer was the Cuivrée au coings... only available there.

Their is some board games if you want to relax and do something funny instead of just drinking and talking. Which is cool.

Still have to go there again and edit the review, if needed.

08-19-2008 00:44:28 | More by ZorPrime

CBA

British Indian Ocean Territory

4/5  rDev +2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Decent pub that definitely gets lots of locals particularly at lunch from the surrounding businesses. You can bring your own food in and make use of their microwaves, cutlery and other kindly provided eating necessities. Nice touch. They apparently knock out a ton of different styles, but as far as I could tell only run 6 taps. Lots of variation on rousse, blonde and amber with a few odd ball selections (a blonde chili pepper beer?). So I think it's a bit hit or miss. Service was great. Good place to go to relax, talk and enjoy reasonably priced beer. Awesome local art on display as well. Worth the short walk from the old town.

12-31-2010 17:12:27 | More by CBA

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