Le Sarah B

This is the bar inside of the Intercontinental hotel. Interesting place– fairly small, very dark, fairly empty (late on a Friday night). They were still serving food and drinks when we got to the hotel after the drive from Massachusetts, which we appreciated. The service was decent, and so were the food and drinks – nothing spectacular, but nothing to complain about. A little pricey. They have interesting drinks that you won’t find elsewhere, many featuring absinthe. I wouldn’t go here if I weren’t staying in the hotel, it’s nothing special, but it’s nice to have if you’re staying at the Intercontinental and want to grab a drink without going out.

They just served me a drink with lime, lemon, grapefruit juice, tonic water, and I believe zero alcohol.
I ordered an Old Fashioned, so this was obviously a mistake. I told the bartender, hey, I ordered an Old Fashioned. She said yes, that’s it.
… wtf? Wt flying f? I took a picture of both the drink and the receipt, because it’s the worst drink I’ve ever been served in my entire life. Some day I’ll have kids, and if one of them makes something worse, I’ll actually be proud of them.
F–

Had absinthe for the first time here! Server made my boyfriend and I (who dressed casual) a little unwelcome. Besides that, fun place located in a chic hotel.

Stopped in for a quick drink to unwind. The bartenders are friendly and drinks are good. Had a great selection of absinthe serves the traditional way. A great selection of cocktails made with absinthe as well. Sat at the bar so didn’t have any food but drinks were excellent. Prices are to be expected from The Intercontinental.

This place gave a very sad excuse for a Sazerac. A Sazerac is composed of rye whiskey or cognac, bitters, and sugar or simple syrup with a lemon or orange peel garnish. Sometimes the oil in the peel is squeezed out to add additional aroma. I’ve even seen some bars light the oil on fire for a fun effect. The ice is always strained out.
The bartender here used some rail quality Canadian whisky. He used angostura bitters. He served it with ice. There was no sugar and no garnish. He basically gave me a whisky on the rocks with a dash of bitters in a glass with an absinthe wash. As a result the drink tasted mostly like a Canadian whisky, smoky and rough. So this was hardly a Sazerac. By failing to deliver something even close to the drink I wanted, this place earns a rare ¹⁄₅ stars from me.

This is one prime example of how a hotel bar should be. It was never too crowded, but never dead. A TV to watch sports, a decent selection of beer and a lot of spirits. The folks behind the bar were great too and remembered my drinks on my second time there. Great service!

I am really happy about having a bar like this in Montréal. When you are sick of the same old bar routine every weekend you can try this unique place out. It offers drinks I have never heard of and one is enough to turn your mood into something you do not normally experience. The décor is very different and can fit all sorts of occasions. For example, you can experience sitting at the bar or an open table or a private room or a more romantic semi private booth. The servers are knowledgeable, bilingual and funny. For food I ordered the chicken wings which were tasty but not something I would go out of my way for. I had a good time and would come back.

My friend and I went there exclusively to drink absinthe in one of those fancy fountain… It’s quite a pleasant experience and there’s a wide variety of absinthe cost and colours!
We ended up in a small private room that only the two of share and it was very entertaining. I would highly recommend that you reserve one of these if you are going to give this drink experience a shot with a bunch of friends.

I’ve been three times in total: a couple of times with a girlfriend at the start of our night out (a Saturday from about 9 – 1 and a Wednesday from 8 – 10), and another time with a work friend (Wednesday from 6 – 9). I really like it.
Unlike other hotel bars, it has some ambiance, and doesn’t appear to be frequented only by hotel guests and business people. It is nicely chic, but accessibly friendly. Of course, it’s original with its offering of absinth, (which, in case you’re wondering, is a lot like pastis or ouzo or raki, but not sweet, and a lot stronger). The curtained off fireplace area is cosy if you’re on a date, but according to my friend you can be overlooked by the wait staff.
I started with a cocktail the first time. I can’t remember which one I had, but it was fruity, tasty, decently alcoholic, and an average price for a cocktail. I like this as a soft lead in to the experience.
I then graduated to the absinth experience, with the iced water dripping over the sugar cube. There are different sorts of absinth (you can see them behind the bar), ranging from the regular one to the smoother one (which I think is Swiss), and it’s a fun tasting experience.
I recommend this for a chic date, a sophisticated night out with more mature friends, or for a really different way to get plastered. ;-)

Just not at all my vibe. Nice enough, just so businessy with bits of awkward décor that feel a bit copy pasta’d from Plateau and Mile End bars. There are absinthe props around but the prissyness of the décor suggests the green fairy keeps her secrets far from here. Honestly, a perfectly fine hotel bar for business folks, intimate and all that, just utterly not what I want from an absinthe bar, or a cocktail night out with my Montrealers.

Had to pop in and try the 60%, as they don’t burn the sugar cube, but drip the ice water over it to sweeten/​dilute the absinthe.
Very nice indeed.

The only problem with our Saturday in Montréal is that by 6 p.m., we’d caved to the temptation of a great breakfast, steak frites lunch and afternoon cocktails and snacks. For us, Le Sarah B was the perfect stop for the evening «meal» — Rose and chicken wings! Those wonderful chicken wings, perfectly seasoned and fried. Recommended seating is around the corner behind the curtains — banquettes and pillows invite one to respectably sluggardize. Bok bok!

Great atmosphere. Friendly service. Relaxing place for a cocktail.
Given that it was an absynthe bar, I was expecting more of a selection of traditional prohibition drinks (like a Sazerac) on the menu. Rather, there were very interesting concoctions (one with cognac, absynthe and pistachio syrup), but after tasting two, I found them much too sweet for my taste.
So, if you’re looking for interesting twists on absynthe, go experience, but those like me who like a stronger and less sweet cocktail, this might not be the one for you.

great little absinthe bar, good selection, quiet, with comfortable seating in the back.
All these folks complaining that they don’t serve «real absinthe» seem a bit clueless, since absinth was banned in the US in 1912 and it was put back on the market in 2007 with the only limitation being that it cant pass 10ppm of thujone… I doubt anyone commenting on Unilocal was of a reasonable drinking age in 1912, and there were plenty of commercially available absinths on the market prior to 1912 with less than 10ppm of thujone.

First on the list, Le Sarah B., an absinthe bar. They are self-​proclaimed absinthe purists (note: I don’t condone the use of this word in any context), so they don’t burn the sugar cube. Instead, the pictured contraption drips ice water on the slotted spoon to dissolve the sugar cube so the alcohol becomes diluted. But really, can you still be a purist if it isn’t real Absinthe??? FYI, the wormwood content in their absinthes is about 1%.
Still, it’s a super classy place, and despite being purists, the servers were very friendly. And they gave us a free drink in exchange for a pic that my friend took on his Blackberry. Winning.

This fun little gem is located inside the intercontinental hotel. Might I recommend for those staying at the hotel to pre-​drink at the free guest bar first.
The Sarah B. bar is an absinthe bar. Unfortunately it isn’t the absinthe from the good olé days, but cool nonetheless. The décor is quite nice as well… for example, if you go down stairs towards Java U, the wall alternates between deer hair and worm wood. Jeffrey anyone? Along the interior of the bar there are classic absinthe paraphernalia devices. They also have some private rooms in the back with wrap around couches and curtains in lieu of doors.
The good:
I have fond memories of burning the shit out of my hand at this establishment attempting to drink some absinthe in alternative ways… From what I recall they had free snacks at the bar.
The bad:
add an extra $ on the price description, drinks aren’t cheap, it is the intercontinental.

Located inside the lobby floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Montréal, 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 Montréal, 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.