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| - Located inside the lobby floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Montreal, this absinthe bar is like nothing I've ever experienced. I walked by it multiple times to access my room before noticing it being advertised in the hotel's elevators and two words stuck out like sore thumbs and managed to speed up my heart rate with excitement and curiosity: absinthe bar.
Yep, that's right, a freakin' absinthe bar. The green fairy. This mysterious alcohol that everyone knows one but few have tried. Sure, I've tried it a few times at other places, mostly in Europe but this was the real deal. One night as my parents, who I was spending time with in Montreal, went out to a business dinner and I found myself alone, I figured that checking it out for dinner and some drinks would be interesting.
I sat at the bar, which unfortunately had no TVs in it. The television was actually 180 degrees behind me, against the wall. A shame really, it's in an awkward position where few can see it. I ordered up some grub, in this case a wonderful and heartily-sized portion of French onion soup which was pipping hot and delicious and along with it a Jacques Cartier Collins (absinthe, absolute pear, limoncello, sweet & sour mix & cola) which was surprising but amazing. I then figured I'd join the big boys club and order some straight up absinthe which came served with a glass jar on some kind of stand with a spout in it, enabling the patrons drinking it to control the dilution of their absinthe themselves - really cool, interactive, gimmicky; I like the concept, it's neat.
The place is reasonably priced, the food was good, and they even have tapas (including a 3 tapas for $15 deal) and some pretty good music as well. The service was friendly (obviously, it was a Canadian person, thus normal...) - I'd go back again, I had fun, even alone.
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