1. My favourite breweries in town are
Beyond the Pale and
Tooth and Nail. They are both close enough together to visit one after the other (by car). I would say that they offer the most variety of craft beer in town.
http://beyondthepale.ca/
http://toothandnailbeer.com/
Pub Italia is my favourite beer bar and it's fairly close by as well on Preston Street.
If you're looking to do a bit of a beer tour, those three locations would be my recommendation. However, they are not walking distance from downtown or the arena.
Other beer bars in town include
Craft (at the football stadium) and
Biermarkt (downtown). The
Mill St. brew pub is another nice location relatively near to downtown but I wouldn't say that their beer is nearly as good. It really depends on how much driving/Ubering you want to do.
2. Downtown is probably the best place to visit/stay, but it seems as if you are staying near the arena. The downtown area has the
Byward Market (which is chock full of restaurants and bars) as well as
Elgin St. (which is typically a bit of an older crowd - 30+).
Brothers Beer Bistro has a pretty good beer selection in the Byward Market. Elgin Street has some neat restaurants and bars like
El Camino.
Obviously there are a lot of landmarks downtown as well, but the city is under quite a bit of construction in anticipation of the festivities associated with Canada's 150th birthday.
The world famous
Rideau Canal (it should be frozen) is the world's largest skating rink, also downtown, and it's a lot of fun to visit. Rent some skates, and skate down the waterway all the way to Dow's Lake, and grab coffee, hot chocolate and a Beaver Tail (pastry) along the way. You'll have to dress warmly or luck into one of the milder winter days.
3. Currently, Ottawa's arena location (Kanata) is not that close to downtown (relatively speaking) and it will take a 15-25 minute drive to get downtown when it isn't rush hour.
However, there are some restaurants and bars in Kanata to cater to the people who live there as well as the Senators fans who pour in on game days/nights.
I would recommend
Central Bierhaus on Terry Fox Drive if you're looking for beers/food before or after the game. It's partially owned by Chris Neil, and has a pretty good draft list and excellent German food (schnitzel, sausages, etc.). It's not easy getting in and out of the shopping complex on Terry Fox because of the bizarre traffic patterns, but the place is near the movie theater.