Broken 7 by La Compagnie de Bière Brisset

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Over the weekend I tried a new beer, Broken 7 by La Compagnie de Bière Brisset (so new in fact, that in this day and age, I can’t find a single useful link anywhere for either of them). I ended up recording my thoughts about it. Call it the Zekecast, Zeke’s Montreal Beer Podcast, a beercast or whatever.

Listen (22:26):

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You can download it here: Ogg Vorbis 14MB, MP3 27MB, Flac 98MB, WAVE 227MB.

In a nutshell, it’s a very reasonable and nice beer made better by it being made locally. Bright yellow, 5% abv, it comes in thin 500ml brown bottles with a label that evokes baseball uniforms. It has strong hay overtones with a nice aftertaste, I also was able to taste and smell at first some celery then a vague citrus scent and flavor (somewhere in between lemon and grapefruit) and a slight hint of something approaching licorice. However the lasting image and memory is of a late summer pasture. It’s much better when drunk extremely cold.

A bottle of Broken 7 by La Compagnie de Bière Brisset
A bottle of Broken 7 by La Compagnie de Bière Brisset

For those who are interested, the players on the Expos who wore the number 7 were Bobby Wine (1969 – 1972), Bob Stinson (1973 – 1974), Tony Bernazard (1979), Ron LeFlore (1980), Hubie Brooks (1985 – 1989), Lou Frazier (1993 – 95), F.P. Santangelo (1996 – 1998), Orlando Merced (1999), Todd Zeile (2003) and Tony Batista (2004). But as I point out Alain McKenna is probably wrong in thinking that there is any link to baseball, as here in Montreal the name will be pronounced “broh-kuhn set.” As the number seven is pronounced “set” in French. So it is much more likely that if there is any sports connection it is to tennis. And it only occurred to me now, that not only did he not write anything substantial about the beer, but what little he did write, he got wrong, implying that it is a Lager, when in fact it is an Ale.

For those following along these links will prove helpful. The Montreal Expos 1973 season (also here, here and here). Schaefer Beer, Rheingold Beer and the two paragraphs in La Presse that Alain McKenna, wrote about the beer. The address for Epicerie Unique is 4109 St. Laurent, here in Montreal.

And then finally

The EZ Montreal Art Podcast, episode 5, Melanie Gilligan at Vox

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Last month Eloi Desjardins from Un show de mot’arts and I got together to discuss art in Montreal in the summer. We were in Joliette to see the Jacques Hurtubise exhibit there (more on it later) but the conversation quickly got focused on the Melanie Gilligan exhibit Popular Unrest at Galerie Vox. This is the second part of a recording we made at the same time as the The EZ Montreal Art Podcast episode 4, Ryoji Ikeda at DHC/Art.

The EZ Montreal Art Podcast episode 5

Listen (20:27):

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More Art and the Law

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Let’s hope that it never gets to this here. On one hand I’m eternally frustrated with the values of Canadian Art (old and new). On the flip side, I’m kind of glad that no one (to my knowledge) has resorted to a court of law to prove (or disprove) the authenticity of an artwork. Last week the New York Times reported on a messy and sordid case whether works attributed to “Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko — are clearly originals or obvious fakes.”

Peter Paul Biro will have his day in court

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The Montreal forensic art specialist who saw his career go up in smoke after a very damning article in the New Yorker in 2010 has clarified what and what cannot be tried in court.

The full 95 page ruling is available here. As I hear any more news I’ll let you know, but my best guess is that the only people who will be happy with the outcome are the lawyers.

Yet Another Incomplete Abécédaire of Montreal Apartment Buildings

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The Albert on Durocher
The Albert on Durocher
The Beau Chateau on Guy
The Beau Chateau on Guy
Castle Arms on Prince Arthur (I think)
Castle Arms on Prince Arthur (I think)
The Denise on Edouard Montpetit
The Denise on Edouard Montpetit
The Elms on Elm
The Elms on Elm
The Fort Crest on du Fort
The Fort Crest on du Fort
The Gameshire on Côte Saint-Luc
The Gameshire on Côte Saint-Luc
The Julia on Parc
The Julia on Parc
The La Salle on Sainte Catherine E
The La Salle on Sainte Catherine E
The Madeleine
The Madeleine
The Nordau
The Nordau
The Olympia on Sainte Catherine E
The Olympia on Sainte Catherine E
The Parkridge on Côte-Saint-Luc
The Parkridge on Côte-Saint-Luc
The Reading
The Reading
The San Marcos on Saint Marc
The San Marcos on Saint Marc
The Tower on Côte-Saint-Luc
The Tower on Côte-Saint-Luc
The Van Dyck on Decarie
The Van Dyck on Decarie
The Westmount Chateau on de Maisonneuve
The Westmount Chateau on de Maisonneuve

If you’re interested in the earlier collections, part one is here, and part two is here.

The (Sort of, Kind of, Maybe) Adventurous Eater’s Guide to Montréal

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Over at GQ, Jessie Cacciola mails in a fluff piece ostensibly an interview with Fred Morin and Dave McMillan on “cool” things in Montreal.

Unfortunately there are some mistakes. 1a. Wilensky’s serves more than a special. 1b. Yes you can get a special without cheese. 2. Someone in their graphics department decided that the Lasalle Rapids and the jetboating are in Old Montreal, when Dave specifically is quoted as saying “They have jet boating in Old Montréal, but you want to go to LaSalle.” 3. It’s Saint Henri, not Saint Henry, just like it’s David McMillan, not David MacMillan.

Then I’m kind of disappointed, they didn’t mention Au Cinquieme Peche for the seal, Bratwurst Colbeh for the brain sandwich, Chez Boris where you can get savory doughnuts, Chez Bouffe for the offal, Brisket’s for the seventeen different types of ground meat you can get as a hamburger, Dad’s Bagels for the 24/7 Indian food, Lawrence for just about anything on their menu, Paul Patates for the spruce beer, Pierrette Patates for the Michigo, Tripoli’s for the octopus and that’s just off the top of my head.

Dueling Auctions

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If you’re looking for something to do tonight, there are two auctions happening. The first is at Iegor, it’s got some Joan Miro prints, a Jacques Hurtubise print

HURTUBISE, Jacques RCA (1939-) "Mirabel" Lithographie Signée, datée, titrée, numérotée en bas à droite: Hurtubise 77, E.A. 9/40 19x26cm - 7.5x10.25"  © Jacques HURTUBISE/ SODRAC (2012)  Image Courtesy Iegor.net
HURTUBISE, Jacques RCA (1939-) “Mirabel” Lithographie Signée, datée, titrée, numérotée en bas à droite: Hurtubise 77, E.A. 9/40 19x26cm – 7.5×10.25″ © Jacques HURTUBISE/ SODRAC (2012) Image Courtesy Iegor.net

a couple of Serge Lemoyne prints, a Molinari, and a whack of Barbies.

The second one is of the remaining stock in Antiquites Hubert, a business down the street from me that has had a going out of business sign in its window for the past six years. It isn’t as focused, but there definitely is some very cool stuff going up for sale. I’ll probably start at one and end up at the other. Maybe I’ll see you at one.

Local Art reviews that matter

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Eloi D on the 30e Symposium international de Baie-Saint-Paul, The Belgo Report on Galerie [SAS] and Galerie Luz.

The EZ Montreal Art Podcast episode 4, Ryoji Ikeda at DHC/Art

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Last month Eloi Desjardins from Un show de mot’arts and I got together to discuss art in Montreal in the summer. We were in Joliette to see the Jacques Hurtubise exhibit there (more on it later) but the conversation quickly got focused on the Ryoji Ikeda exhibit at DHC/Art.

The EZ Montreal Art Podcast episode 4

Listen (21:23):

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Download: Ogg Vorbis 12MB, MP3 18MB, Flac 76MB, WAV 216MB.

L’épicerie on Fancy Fast Food Hamburgers

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I don’t know why it blipped on my radar yesterday but this YouTube video of a three year-old episode from the Radio-Canada TV show L’épicerie on Fancy Fast Food Hamburgers was brought to my attention.

They did regular and fancy burgers at A&W, McDonalds, Burger King and Harvey’s noting that in general the fancy burgers were bigger, more expensive, saltier and fattier than the regular burgers while not being significantly better tasting – however they did note that the fancy burger at A&W was slightly better than the regular one.

[Edit 9h25: What a difference 18 months will do, I kind of thought I had seen the episode before, but couldn’t find it anywhere on Zeke Dot Com, so thought I hadn’t written about it. But I was mistaken. I previously wrote about it on a different website, oops! Apologies for the duplication.]