I commuted in Montreal for the last years with a Shimano Alfine 8. The only problems I had were due to the cable, with slush and dirt freezing on the little exposed part which pulls on the hub the cable was sometimes not snapping back, so not shifting to lower gears. The hub itself is great.
Right now building a new bike with an Alfine 11 Di2 (electric shifting, so at least not the cable problem). I wanted to go Alfine 8 Di2, but found on SJS Cycles a crazy good deal on the 11 speed version (same price or slightly less then you would get the 8 speed with reduction from Germany). The 11 runs with oil, so easier to service, the 8 I brought once per year to a LBS for regreasing.