Mellön is a brewery built on friendship — the name literally means "friend" in Tolkien's Elvish, the word that opens the gates of Moria, and "parlez ami et entrez" is precisely the spirit of the place. It's the life project of two childhood friends, Alexandre Pontbriand and David Goudreau, who met at twelve years old and grew up chasing new beers together, from student-days quantity to genuine obsession — a trajectory that runs through a life-changing encounter with Heady Topper, a first 6000-IBU homebrew in 2015, and lunchtime daydreams by the Lachine Canal while both worked at the same marketing agency. In 2017 they pooled their money for a brewing course at the IBQ (Alex took it, since passion rhymes with obsession, and he's been head brewer ever since, while Dave runs operations and serves as the house's official DJ). After years of Alex honing his craft in three different breweries, a lease signed on March 10, 2020 — three days before the end of the world — and a build-out that left concrete dust in their hair, Mellön poured its first beer in 2021 and welcomed 850 people on opening day: the happiest two guys in Quebec, in a flood-lit space with the garage door they'd always dreamed of.
The brewing is precise, playful, and quietly ambitious, organized around three loves: saisons, hops, and "lagerisation." The first beer ever brewed on site was a Grisette sent straight into a Pinot Noir foudre for a year, and that oak patience shows in "Deluxe" pours like Confidences Nocturnes, a Czech dark lager (Tmavé Výčepní) at a session-perfect 3.1%, and Je Pars en Vacances, a foudre-aged Kellerbier. Around them rotates a board of crisp European classics — a young-served Světlý Ležák, a Helles Vollbier called Feierbier, a Bamberg-inspired Rauchbier, a Spanish-inspired lager named Petite Étoile — alongside hoppier fare like the Mosaic-and-Motueka IPA I'm Sipping on Sunshine, a citrus-and-raspberry gose punningly titled Sel le Temps des Vacances, and collaborations that reach beyond beer, including La Journée Va Être Chaude brewed with the musician Les Louanges. Most of it flows on draft and into cans to go, and the alcohol-free page is taken just as seriously, with NA sours and IPAs from Mikkeller, Les Grands Bois, and Burdock, clementine kombucha, and sparkling hibiscus Zamalek.
The food follows the apéro logic of a true neighbourhood tap room: pickles, tortillons, vinegared eggs, rosemary nuts, and saucisson to lay a base; cold plates of ricotta-and-fig tartines, smoked salmon jerky, pork rillettes, and cheese; warm comforts of pretzel with Dijon, sausage and sauerkraut, or a schnitzel sandwich; and, Tuesday to Saturday evenings, Pizza Toni's gloriously affordable slices ($5.50–6), from the classic pepperoni to a Pep Spéciale finished with fior di latte and spicy honey. The calendar keeps the "vie de quartier" promise, most memorably with Grillades & Grouillades, the Sunday block-party formula running from noon till late: barbecue by a guest griller, DJ sets, ice cream, sweetened lemonade, two new beer releases, and a gose-and-ice-cream floater for the true believers.
Warm, funny, and obsessive in exactly the right ways, Mellön is friendship turned into a brewery — a place where foudre-aged lagers, dollar-friendly pizza, backyard barbecue Sundays, and two guys living their dream all pour into the same glass. Speak, friend, and enter.