They often say that you are not a very good tourist in your own home and that is something which I could probably get behind, having hardly scratched the surface of my home city of Mexico City. For Pietro Trassi Montreal is not only his home but somewhere that he has been actively discovering all of his life. I met Pietro through a common friend in Montreal and my girlfriend and I pretty much put our vacation in his hands, to shows us and tell us where is best to go. At the beginning of the week he was telling us about the speakeasy scene in the city and throughout the week, on his advice, we would try out different ones. 

There was a period of time when these hidden bars were seen as a bit old hat, but I have to be honest, given what I saw in Montreal, they are still super cool venues to visit. 

Clandestine Alley

The tricky thing for this speakeasies is that they have to be hidden of course, but not so much so that nobody ever find them. There are many ways for this to happen and many of the speakeasies rely heavily on word of mouth to gain popularity. Very occasionally you will come across something which looks a little suspicious, and that is what happened to us in Montreal. We actually weren’t looking for this particular speakeasy, but a sign above for a detective agency and then a brick wall doorway, well that certainly piqued our attention. We pulled on a loose brick and bang, the door opened to an amazing mystery shrouded speakeasy with stunning cocktails. 

Range of Options

Something which I have noticed when I have gone to different bars like this is that they really do have carte blanche as to what their particular theme is. I did get the suspicion at first that every single one of these bars was going to be committed to offering a classy experience with fine cocktails. Thankfully I then found a couple of speakeasy bars which were really rough and ready, and I imagine more akin to those that would have been found during the times of prohibition. 

Nobody Knows

I must confess that even though these bars are spoken about online and can be found on social media, there most certainly is a feeling of mischief, this idea that you are snuggled away somewhere, in a place were nobody can find you. This gives you an entirely different experience from simply walking into a bar and ordering a drink. I have to say that I can kind of understand the dislike which people have for these bars, largely based on the way that foodies and guides would gush over them, With this being said, I had a great time and will certainly be on the lookout for more bars like it in the future. 

Have you been to any speakeasies before? What was your experience like?