Bringin' my own bottle!

And have a perfect glass everytime - for sure!  During one of the most awesome weekends, ever, the Polar Bear took me to an amazing BYOB restaurant in Montreal (best mussels, by the way!), and he came equipped with my FAVORITE Barolo and a backup to keep us sipping during our extra long and lovely date. 

I just found a really cool website listing all the BYOB restaurants in Ottawa, along with a few tips on their FAQ page: 

•Don't bring homemade wine - the government only allows people to bring commercial wines to restaurants.


•Know how much the restaurant charges - some places will charge you a higher corkage fee to discourage you from bringing your own wine. Don't hold that against them because maybe they have invested a lot of money in an amazing wine cellar.

•Know if they charge by the bottle or by the size of the bottle - some restaurants will charge you $10 a bottle no matter what size; some places will charge you more money for larger bottles. (ie: a 750ml would be $10, 1.5L would be $20, and no, unfortunately, they won't charge $5 for 375ml)

•Remember, no PST is charged on corkage fees - at least there is only one tax, which helps you save a couple more bucks.

•Offer your server a taste - not all restaurants are going to allow their servers to have a taste, but if they do your server will love it! Tip: If you don't like the wine you might want to let your server know before you offer them a taste.

•Don't bring fortified wine - fortified wines (ports, sherries, etc) are not allowed as part of BYOW.

•Ask for "bring a bottle buy a bottle" - while this is very rare it is great to find! Some restaurants will wave their corkage fee if you also buy a bottle from their list. Makes for a win-win situation, you get to bring a wine you love, the restaurant sells a bottle from their wine cellar.