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Located next door to Brutopia (see my reveiw) Hurley's is your typical sprawling faux-pub that consists of a warren of brick-walled dining areas with a central bar in the middle and a large terrace in the back.
Also typical is the beer selection: Guinness, Smithwick's and Kilkenny's, the latter being unavailable in the states.Great burgers that fill you up in preparation for the night ahead, which might involve listening to live music. Of course, I would've enjoyed that but decided to make an early departure (to McKibbins) because of the horrid service - I think Hurley's actually derives from the Gaelic term "hir hool he," which can be roughly translated as :He who sits at the bar and gets little service." Anyway, not the high point of Montreal's nightlife - unless you don't care.
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I've stopped by Hurley's 3 times, eaten twice. The food is good, the Bailey's cheesecake was awesome.
Beerwise, there is a really nice selection of Canadian offerings, mixed in with some European imports. A nice selection all in all. Whisky-wise, the scotches are there, but I actually enjoyed the selection of Irish whiskies. You can find scotches in a lot of places, but Irish ones are often limited to your Bushmills/Jameson/Powers in most pubs.
This place does get crowded on weekends.
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Please allow me a brief digression before I get started.
Listen up, Montrealers: You have a world-class brewery in MacAuslan. Ste-Ambroise Pale Ale is better by far than all those imports you get--Double Diamond, Tartan, Kilkenny (you bastards!), Boddington's, etc., and it's a lot cheaper. Get a clue.
Now...as faux Irish pubs go, this is a really good one. It's a rambling place with more brick-lined rooms than I can count, with live music upstairs and down. Downstairs usually features local Irish/folk type acts, and if Solstice are playing, don't miss 'em. My one complaint is that the layout of the place, necessitated by the building it's in, means that it's difficult to see and hear the band if you aren't in the same room they are. But, speaking as someone who's usually complaining that this place or that is too dark and too loud, I find the atmosphere very agreeable. It can be smokey, like any place in Montreal, and can get very crowded; but I rarely fail to meet and converse with someone interesting.
There is a fairly broad selection of beers, as Canadian pubs go, and the staff are on the ball. There is also quite a large, if somewhat pricey, selection of Scotches (print up a new list, Bill!). And if you come in early in the evening and nothing's going on, you can pop on over to Brutopia next door for a great IPA.
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