Hi all, Just joined this forum and what I've read is fascinating. I shall be spending many hours trawling (not trolling) the content here. I live in Southern Brittany and I've got my two-pen'orth to say about French beer, but why can't we have a regional thread like Germany and Belgium? Perhaps then more French drinkers would post, knowing their observations were better targeted. My experience of beer drinking in France is that the culture is entirely different to that of the UK or Germany, and even more so outside of the big conurbations. So let's give France a Chance!
Merci @Todd, honestly until now I was thinking and mistaken into thinking we didn’t really need a French/France forum because of lack of activity regarding the land of Cheese, baguette and wines but hey, as others have pointed out there are currently ~2000 breweries in France, a country which is often one of the World Top destination for foreign tourists (When our Unions aren’t crippling the whole country) as well so I guess it’s about deserved and necessary. Bienvenue @An_Ankou, glad to have you amongst us. South of Britanny? Lorient, Vannes? Kenavo!
Thanks for the Welcome. Well to the East of Vannes, a little place called Béganne. The biggest town of note is Redon, about 15 Km further east. I suppose the closest "industrial" brewery is Lancelot. Decent beers, which I find difficult to drink since I'm a session man and most of their stuff is too strong. That's to say, the strong ones are decent and the weaker ones less so. But that's just my opinion, others may swear by them.
I was around that area, to be generic last summer but closer to Lorient/Hennebont and Guidel-plages where I used to spend my holidays for years more than twenty years ago. We visited with my partner the area, a revisit for me of course. Lancelot is great! But my partner would rather opt for cider as she barely ever drink beer. Take the time to lurk the forums, whether the European one or the BeerTalk for generic discussion about our beverage of preference. Santé, l’ami!
Unlike some other beer rating websites, BA does not allow ratings of (real) ciders / cidre, but if you (like me) love a change of pace from all the beers by drinking a good cider, France (and particularly Normandie and Bretagne) offer a great selection of ciders too.
I'm all for giving France a chance. I had a wonderful beer experience a few years back at Brasserie Thirez in Esquelbecq and would defiantly like to hear more about the Nord area of France! I plan to be back in the area in mid September. We will visit Thirez, the village of Cassel & the Normandy region. Any & all Normandy recommendations would be much appreciated. Looking forward to visiting France again! Cheers!
@barrybeerdog Normandy has its share of breweries too. Brasserie de Sutter is based in Gisors, tried a few from their portfolio. All good. https://untappd.com/w/brasserie-de-sutter/4232/beer Normandy Beer Factory is also worthy: http://normandybeerfactory.fr/nos-bieres/ When you’ll be over there the bars and pubs could often suggest trying one of their local brews so you may find plenty on your path. Santé!
Are any French breweries aging wild/spontaneous ales on wine grapes? Brasserie Sacrilège in Montpelier is the only one I know of, but surely others are experimenting with this. It's been a trend in the lambic world for awhile, but also catching on in the US.
There is a few that I know which are doing that : La montagnarde La malpolon Brasserie La goutte d'or Ammonite There is quite a lot of new wild ale brewery since a few years in France
That’s very exciting, thanks for sharing these! I suppose it’s still a smaller niche style, but may have a wider appeal to wine drinkers, hopefully.
A few beers from this French brewery are available in Norway now: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50012/?view=beers&show=all#lists . Not all of them are brilliant, but well worth sampling.
Bonjour! For lack of a better location I will ask this on this thread. I’m going to be in Paris for a few days in the beginning of April. We are staying in the Marais. I appreciate any recommendations for beer bars, and breweries to visit. Merci!
Hello, In the Marais there is a brewdog Bar, with a large outdoor area if the weather is good. Here is a list of my favorite beer bar : Liquiderie bar (there is also liquiderie cave which is a beer shop with a few tap), it has a great choice of beer (you can expect cantillon on tap there). Les cuves de fauve, it is a brewpub but they also serve beer from other breweries. L'express de Lyon, for a more traditional Parisian cafe, but with good beer (and good food too ! ). Other interesting bar : Hoppy corner, IBU (they have two bar), La fine mousse (I don't like it much, but tourist seems to love it, with a lot af french beer available), La binouze (expensive place), Mikkeller bar (the worst mikkeller bar I had visited) There is not much brewery inside of Paris, there is brasserie Goutte d'or, which has a nice taproom. Bapbap, I never went there because there beer are not my taste.
merci beaucoup! Luiquiderie looks like my spot. I may have to bring a couple Sante Adairius bottles to share.
Greetings all. The wife and I will be in Bordeaux in a few weeks, and I was wondering about recommendations for a good beer bar. We'll be fairly close to the downtown area, and so would like to focus our drinking around there. While we typically mostly drink wine during our visits to Bordeaux, after a week or two of nothing but wine I sometimes need a break. In the past, I've been able to make do with several of the British/Irish style pubs in the area, and have also found the Space Factory quite satisfactory. However, would love to hear about other recommendations.
I was last in Bordeaux in 2010 making any of my recommendations worthless plus I wasn’t much a (craft) beer drinker then. While trying to revive and start over this forum, some French guys showed up, hope they can be of better help, or anyone else who’s recently been there.
Don't tell any wine aficionados that you are going to Bordeaux to drink beer, they will laugh at you. But Bordeaux is not a beer desert after all: The best beer bar is supposed to be Jaqen in 5 Rue Beaubadat. Le Zytho in 28 Rue Latour is also supposed to be decent. To buy bottles / cans for takeaway, try l'Amirale Bière - La Cave, in 5, rue Saint James.
