A Friendly eMail

I recieved an email from Eric Michaud the other week and decided to share his news. Eric was a very friendly chap that I managed to do a beer swap with a while back, and I really hope he doesn't mind me sharing the news. It's things like this that make me really happy to be in the industry that I'm in, and I think it's amazing to be able to share my passion with different people on a daily basis - and it certainly rocks when the people I share my passion with develope a passion of their own about great beer! So thanks for news Eric, I look forward to hearing about what else you get up too in your beer travels :)

Hey Ghostdrinker!

My name's Eric, I'm the guy that brought you those Quebecoise beers last spring.

I'm writing to you mainly for three reason now.


First I have read your post on Smuttynose beers, that's another one of the beers I brought back from Portland, Maine to Montreal a couple of weeks ago and that I haven't drink yet. I got there one of their barley wine also. So before you go on and spoil all my blog subjects, I want to testify that I brought back some Allagash, some Jolly Pumpkins (get your hands on that, it's fabulous!), some Rising Tide, a lot of Southern Tier (don't you dare make a post on Unearthly VS Unearthly Oak Aged...!) and couples of others.

Ok, I'm just kidding, that wasn't why I'm writing to you!

The two reason why I'm writing to you now are:

1: A friend of mine is going to study for a semester at Leeds Uni next winter. I'll try to convince her to bring with her some more things from Montreal for you. There is already two incredibly bold barley wine I have in mind (and in my cellar!), both from small local brewpubs, and maybe till then, January I mean, I'll have other ideas. Anyway, we'll see for that.

2: When I came back home, I realized that we don't have a lot of beers from UK available in Quebec. There is Fuller's and a little bit of Samuel Adams, nothing to get excited about. So I decided to import the breweries that catch my imaginations while I was there. After a couple of weeks, that idea developed into a small British progressive beer festival in Montreal. I've worked on it for the last couple of weeks and now, I am proud to say that the ten breweries I had in mind accepted (or were interested!) in participating to that event. Those breweries are: Kernel, Darkstar, Moor, Thornbridge, Summer Wine, Magic Rock, Marble, Brewdog, Meantime and Hardknott.

The events are going to be hosted in three places: the main one at Brouhaha (brewpub http://www.brouepubbrouhaha.com/), a smaller event with probably just the traditional brews at Albion (brewpub, http://www.brasseriealbion.com/) and a food/beer pairing event at Silex (restaurant http://www.silexbistro.com/). All of this is going to happen at the end of next April.

For now I'm working hard to get my orders done by the middle of October and after that I will see with my partners the opportunity of including some local brewers to the festivities with different concepts.

Why I'm telling you all that? Maybe it's just because I feel that I owe you one because I have known some of those brewery through your blog.
So thanks for that!

I'll provide you with more details if your interested while the process goes on.
That's all for now, keep me posted Eric..... and I'll be bolgging on Jolly Pumpkin later in the week ;)