Project Pilote, a Spacious New Microbrewery and Bar, Opens in the Plateau | Eater Montreal

"This hybrid distillery, microbrewery, restaurant and bar in the Plateau is the culmination of more than half a decade of planning by owner and distiller Guillaume Drapeau, who until recently was a partner at neighbourhood wine bar Le Rouge Gorge. Positioned in the roomy Rachel Street space Drapeau purchased years ago (previously La Quincaillerie) and adjacent to poutine powerhouse La Banquise, the venue was designed with tall ceilings to accommodate a brewery on a glass mezzanine and distillery equipment that spans some 30 feet in height; Drapeau also secured city permission to operate a distillery in a commercial district, a first for the city. For now the focus is on small-batch gin and fruity, nutty eau-de-vies with plans to move into whiskey eventually, and those spirits form the backbone of Justin Presseau’s cocktail menu — highlights include the “Grand-Mère Smith” (green chartreuse and a clarified cordial) and the “Kaffir” (lemongrass makrut tincture, smoked salt, lime juice, and Mangosteen mousse), both spiked with on-site gin. On the beer side, Martin Allaire (formerly of Boswell) brews eight house beers on tap at a time, emphasizing balanced, thirst-quenching styles, and pours them straight from copper-coated bright tanks suspended overhead under a lightwell that casts a glistening orange hue and serves as the bar’s focal point. The operation functions like a freewheeling science lab — experimenting with ideas such as brewing a beer to be distilled into whiskey and reusing barrels to brew the original beer — while sommelier Jean-Patrick Sturgeon brings organic and biodynamic wines and chef Léon Buser-Rivet tends a 700-square-foot rooftop garden whose hops, aromatics, herbs and vegetables feed the beers, spirits, cocktails and menu. The food offering is currently eleven snack-style dishes (zucchini blossoms filled with stracciatella and cherry tomato compote; creamy buttermilk cucumbers with dill), plus a chalkboard of mains like steak frites or grilled fish, with pickled and fermented winter vegetables expected to take the lead in colder months; the team deliberately rotates projects between brewery, distillery and kitchen to reduce waste and spark creativity (for example, using leftover lemon rinds in spirits that then get used in cooking)." - Valerie Silva