SAQ Sélection - Marché Atwater (#23132)

An easy stop after visiting the Atwater Market. This place has about 20 beers in the back but nothing all that special. The real reason to come is the section near the cash registers which has a bunch of ciders, perrys, ice ciders/perrys and hydromiels... I will pop by again to explore them in more depth.

Pretty big store and has a shit ton of Belgians and Germans that you can’t find in Ontario. Some Roche 8, Orval, a whole Floreffe 8 pack, and a bunch of those schneider spinoffs that are great from Germany. Guy was amped at the desk that they just got Scaldis Ambree, hence the good service mark.

Oubliez cette place... Elle ne doit plus figurer sur ce site de bières. Ils ont changé leur marchandise, et il ne reste que quelques bières, à peine plus que dans une SAQ Express... J’ai fait le détour pour rien... Jusqu’à ce que je remarque, vraiment miraculeusement, je parlais avec ma copine des fruits qu’on voulait acheter, que c’est à la fromagerie Hamel que ça se passe pour la bière, au Marché Atwater... Si vous cherchez des cidres de glace ou des produits Québécois rares dans les SAQ, là c’est intéressant... Mon évaluation concerne les bières

Disappointing... Only 6 different beers. 2 unibroue (La terrible and La fringande) that’s it. A lot of cider and hydromiel. Light selection of red/white wine. Place is okay but SAQ Selection is better across the street (if you’re looking for wine, of course).

Well, the SAQ isn’t much to get excited about...there are a few decent beers but nothing very special. Some of the prices are pretty good like for the Saison Dupont and La Chouffe but some others are a little bit more expensive...at least in comparison to the LCBO. It’s obvious that the SAQ caters more to the wine and cider crowd.

Though the store isn`t anything to look at - they have a great selection of ciders and mead here. The location is ideal with the Maché providing much atmosphere and culture. Don`t bother dropping in here for the beer selection as it looks to be in the same poor-state of that in the Outaouais area. The neighbouring cheese shop provides a limited representation of Quebec micros.

Along with the Marché des Saveurs, THE place to go for a great selection of Quebec’s fabulous ciders and meads. Beer selection is minimal, though there is a cheese shop (separetely listed here in PLACES) in the same building with a decent selection of those. The one time I went the staff seemed friendly though not particularly knowledgeable.

When shopping at the market, this is the place to stop if in need of ciders or meads. There is a small beer selection available as well that encompasses most of the same imports as all of the other SAQ outlets. Staff usually tries to be helpful and have some knowledge and plenty of enthusiasm for the locally produced offerings but not a lot of beer knowledge.

To make the story short, SAQ is Quebec’s monopoly store on alcohol products. Now this particular SAQ has the mission of focusing on Quebec craft products which suffer fmo underexposition. This means that you’ll find dozens of Quebec ciders and meads. It doesn’t cover Quebec’s scene all too well, but the director of this particular SAQ is a beer geek and does his best under the archaist laws. This and Marché des Saveurs would be the top 2 places in Montreal when looking for those.