I'm a sucker for good bit of packaging. I found this beer in a small depanneur where it was stacked in the aisle next to the Molson, Labatt, Coors, and Keiths. (By the way, a depanneur is a Quebec convenience store. I like to learn key words like that so when I speak severely broken french, it sounds like know something. If you're taking notes, try ending most sentences with "la", and starting them with "donc". They don't teach us this valuable stuff in school.)

It's nice to see a place that doesn't restrict itself with ancient laws like Ontario. The result is quite foreign to an Ontarian. Any rural convenience store is expected to have the chocolate bars, ice cream and plumbing supplies, but in Quebec these items are squeezed between and behind stacks of Labatt product higher than my head. It gives me a hint that Ontario's Beer Store is making some money.

I took time off from cycling last week. I was with my wife and some friends up at a cottage (in Quebec, obviously). Some time I'll probably try biking in that area, but the roads don't look very welcoming. Loose gravel, washboards, winding roads with people driving at unbelievable speeds cutting corners. It would probably be better to try to find the snowmobile trail map and use those trails. People love their ATVs there, so I'd have to look out for them, but there's no doubt I'd be able to hear them coming.

I used to ride a snowmobile when I was a teenager, and I remember the routes were like minor highways in some places. There were clear lanes separating each direction, and they could provide relatively direct connections between towns. Perfect for cycling, as long as I used a wide tired bike. The only problem would be the lack of ice covered lakes.

Labels: beer, bike love, Quebec, rural cycling

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