I pride myself as being a beer lover-I’d drunk beer from just about every country-except for France. Its northern neighbor (Belgium) produces some of the finest beers in the world, and we should not forget that Louis Pasteur was the man who made brewing a science.
I understand France is and was a primarily wine-drinking nation…but theyounger people in France are getting partial to beer. So can anyone recommend some good French beers? Are they Belgian style?
The good thing about being a beer drinker-there are so many labels, so little time!
But until it get’s moved…
I didn’t drink any beer while in France.
But I had some French beer here in the states. It was awful!
Food discussions are generally better set in Cafe Society, where you will next find this thread.
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I’ve had Fischer d’Alsace a few times. That was OK.
French farmhouse ales are pretty good, if you like lighter, dry, yeasty beers. The large commercial lagers are not very good. You can find the farmhouse ales at big liquor stores, they’ll probably be in 750ml bottles. And France also makes a few darker ales and abbey-styles and such, but I think the farmhouse ales are more “French”.
Does Belgian count? The labels are in French, sometimes, when they’re not in Flemish . . .
Every French beer I’ve had in the States has been sorely lacking. They might just not travel well. Whether this is an comment on the whole of French brewing is not a question I can answer. Besides, who would want to drink French when Belgian is so close, and so much better?
The Belgians drive over the border to buy cases of wine, and the northern French drive to Belgium to get beer. There are a couple of good French beers but they’re an exception-- most is standard lager. Which is fine if you like that kind of thing.
Wel, yes. Of course there are, where do you think the word brasserie comes from:
Kronebourg
La Goudale
Pelforth
French beer portal.
(For those of you who don’t speak French The Gaspode is alluding to the fact that Brasserie comes from the verb brasser which means to brew.)
I’ve been to France a couple times, and I didn’t find much good stuff there, and it wasn’t for lack of trying
Least memorable was being given stuff that was like a cherry beer. Blech!
There are probably some passable French beers, but I didn’t find them. I don’t think it’s their thing.
I second the nomination of Pelforth. Try both the ‘blonde’ and the ‘brune’.
Kronenbourg is the ubiquitous French lager, but it’s a bit anaemic. Their ‘1664’ brand is stronger and better, although I’d avoid the variety that is served in the UK.
There are lots of breweries in the Alsace region (north-eastern France). There are also innumberable monastery beers available.
Was it a lambic?
Brasserie is a word in english, at least acording to Webster’s, it mans brewery. Th tradition with micro breweries is at least as strong in the north of France as it is in Germany or Belgium, with the bewerie doubling as a restaurant.
Mixin flavors (e.g. raspberry, chocolate, cherry) has a long tradition in both France and Belgium. It takes some getting used to, but is quite interesting. Tourists in France who say there is no good beer there are akin to pople visiting the U.S. and complaining about bland Budweiser or Miller.
No love for Stella Artois? Never used to drink it much myself, has to be said.
Back when I did drink, I was quite partial to some French lagers - even the cheap Biere D’Alsace types that come in little 25cl could be crisp and fresh. Then again, they could be bland and awful too.
As others have pointed out, there are better beers from other origins. But then again, the same is true of American beers but I suspect you manage to force some of them down :).
It’s Belgian, and it’s ok till you’ve had other Belgian beer. Then you realize Stella is what Belgians drink while mowing their lawns (if they have lawns, and if they mow them).
What’s this supposed to mean? Because I’ve been a tourist and I’m complaining about it.
Is that stuff that I had in that run-down pub in Beaune with the locals not what French people drink?
Is that that stuff that my French brother-in-law keeps in the fridge not what French people drink?
Is that stuff I had from the tap in that cafè in Besancon not what French people drink?
I’ve been all over France (Normandie, Bretagne, Cognac, Burgogne, Paris) and for the most part, I find their beer pretty shitty. Definitely compared to what I’ve had in Austria and Czech, and pretty much worse than any quality microbrew in the States.
And I’m not talking about the 1664.
I don’t know. I don’t know the technical definition of a lambic. IIRC, it was from the Alsace region.
A lambic is the sourdough of beers. By that, I mean lambics are brewed with wild yeasts naturally found in grains and in the air, not with carefully cultured strains of yeast. These sorts of beer are generally quite sour. An unflavored, blended aged lambic such as a geueze is an acquired taste–I love them, but, depending on the brand, they taste a bit like sparkling pickle or cabbage juice. Comparisons to sweaty socks, gym lockers, and stinky cheese are favorable adjectives when discussing unflavored lambics. They are balanced with a nice sweetness, and hops are nowhere in the flavor profile (stale hops are traditionally used in lambic brewing).
Now, the more popular lambics are the fruit flavored ones, where the sweetness of the fruit complements the tartness of the base beer to make one hell of an awesome potable. The standard lambics are framboise (raspberry), kriek (sourcherry), peche (peach), and cassis (black currant). The are generally low in alcohol (2.5-4%), although some can get as high as 6 or 7% abv. The Belgian brewery Lindeman’s is a good place to start with these sorts of beers.
I’ll admit that fruit flavored beers generally aren’t my bag (I’m a hop head myself), but in the summer a framboise served in a tall, thin flute is close to heaven.
I don’t like beer, so I can only give second-hand opinions. Almost everybody I know who really like beer like foreign beers. The rare exceptions were people who liked some rare and obscure brand produced in small quantity in some remote place.
Well… these are the only ones that I would drink, precisely because they don’t taste like beer.