# Is French Beer Any Good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [March 21, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360 "2006-03-21T22:58:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/21 "2006-03-22T16:32:08Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > 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. Is that stuff that I had in that run-down pub in Victor, Iowa, with the locals not what American people drink? (Bud) Is that that stuff that my room mate keeps in the fridge not what American people drink? (Old Style) Is that stuff I had from the tap in that cafè in Key West not what American people drink? (Miller) I’ve been all over the U.S. (Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, NY, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee) and for the most part, I find their beer pretty shitty. And saying Czech beer is pretty shitty. Well, there’s no accounting for taste, but could you, Oh wise, tell me what ambrosia the U.S. micro beweries is capable of making that makes Czech beer seem shitty? Or is it just another case of “America, Fuck Yeah!”? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/22 "2006-03-22T16:59:47Z")
Sorry **Gaspode** but I’m getting confused, first you say > [@](#): > > Of course there are, where do you think the word brasserie comes from: then you seem annoyed when I point the linguistic relevance of what you said, > [@](#): > > “Brasserie is a word in english, at least acording to Webster’s, it mans brewery.” why did you mention the word in the first place - a word which most folk associate with French style eating establishments- if not to underline its French / brewing roots and link in with the OP? I think what \*\*Trunk \*\* is trying to say is that he has drunk with the locals (sadly said locals were drinking and providing him with shitty beer 😉 ) and thus shouldn’t be classed as / derided for being a “tourist”. He also qualified his statement > [@](#): > > and _for the most part_, I find their beer pretty shitty (italics mine) so perhaps you shouldn’t jump on him so hard. As for me, I usually drink 1664 or Stella depending what’s on tap; the husband is partial to Pelforth (brune mostly but he wouldn’t turn down a blonde). The best beer we’ve had was a place in Starsbourg which brewed it’s own beers - we had a taster of 25cl each of their blanche, blonde, brune and I think they had a malte too, there were certainly four varieties. However we could argue as to whether Alsace beers come from a strictly French background. If we move away from beer, French cider - a whole different story 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/23 "2006-03-22T17:36:51Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > Sorry **Gaspode** but I’m getting confused, first you say then you seem annoyed when I point the linguistic relevance of what you said, why did you mention the word in the first place - a word which most folk associate with French style eating establishments- if not to underline its French / brewing roots and link in with the OP? Actually, I threw in Brasserie just because of that - Many people connect France with wine making and forget that they drink an awful lot of beer too. A lot of it come from Begium, but there are excellent local breweries. Quite a few pople have heard or used the word Brasserie which, for non French speakers, tend t mean French style eating place, like a bistro. By hinting at its original meaning, I was saying (tough maybe too snobishly) that there inded is a bewery tradition in France. > [@](#): > > I think what \*\*Trunk \*\* is trying to say is that he has drunk with the locals (sadly said locals were drinking and providing him with shitty beer 😉 ) and thus shouldn’t be classed as / derided for being a “tourist”. He also qualified his statement (italics mine) so perhaps you shouldn’t jump on him so hard. Maybe I did, but when the OP is “Are there good bers in France?” and people show up and say “Well, I had beer in France and it was crap” I see ignorance at work. As with most experience of good food and drink, you might have to go a little out of your way to find it. Walk into a local pub in most countries and their lager on tap will most likely be bland and non-offensive. Knowing the locals is certainly no guarantee to find the good stuff. > [@](#): > > If we move away from beer, French cider - a whole different story 🆒 Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/24 "2006-03-22T17:49:35Z")
Maybe so, but I would much rather take my chances with a random pint/liter in Germany or the Czech Republic than I would in France or the US. It’s like trying to find BBQ in the States - the odds favor the South. You can find it in California, but you have to look for it. You trip over it in North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/25 "2006-03-22T18:05:29Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > And saying Czech beer is pretty shitty. Well, there’s no accounting for taste, but could you, Oh wise, tell me what ambrosia the U.S. micro beweries is capable of making that makes Czech beer seem shitty? Not if your reading comprehension can’t even extend to two sentences like, “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.” ---
**Author:** ![chefjef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@chefjef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefjef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/26 "2006-03-22T18:12:14Z")
To be honest, I dont think that I have ever had any French made beer. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/27 "2006-03-22T20:53:16Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > And saying Czech beer is pretty shitty. Well, there’s no accounting for taste, but could you, Oh wise, tell me what ambrosia the U.S. micro beweries is capable of making that makes Czech beer seem shitty? > Or is it just another case of “America, Fuck Yeah!”? Even though you did misunderstand **Trunk** ’s statement (he was saying Czech beer is good), I can think of a _lot_ of beers _I_ prefer to Czech beers. I’m not much for lagers. If you like hoppy ales, like I do, then the US certainly has the best beers in this category, bar none. The finest and cleanest pilseners, in my opinion, still do come from the Czech Republic and the surrounding area, but I prefer American takes on the classic such as Victory Brewing’s Prima-Pils. America’s brewing scene is simply incredible in the depth, breadth, and quality of its product. Check out breweries like Bell’s, Three Floyd’s, Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada, Flying Dog, Two Brothers, Dogfish Head, Avery, Anchor, plus all the hundreds or thousands of brewpubs across the country that make beer only locally available. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/28 "2006-03-22T21:03:51Z")
I occassionally enjoy [Chimay](http://www.chimay.be/). Not that it’s not always good. It always is. I just don’t drink beer very often. When I do, it’s my beer of choice. It doesn’t hurt that it comes in a 750ml (wine sized) bottle and a champaign cork. Very festive and a real treat. Unfiltered. (yeah, I know. It’s Belgian. But they speak french there too and it’s made in the Trappist Monk tradition. I don’t know what Trappist Monks are but it just sounds cool.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/29 "2006-03-22T21:13:15Z")
[Trappists.](http://www.ocso.org/) If speaking French is all that counts, then **I** make the best French beer on the planet! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/30 "2006-03-22T21:16:14Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I’ve been all over France (Normandie, Bretagne, Cognac, Burgogne, Paris) and for the most part, I find their beer pretty shitty. You just weren’t in the right place. Nord-Pas de Calais is where the beer is at (not surprisingly, just over the border from Belgium). ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/31 "2006-03-22T22:05:26Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > And saying Czech beer is pretty shitty. Well, there’s no accounting for taste, but could you, Oh wise, tell me what ambrosia the U.S. micro beweries is capable of making that makes Czech beer seem shitty? > Or is it just another case of “America, Fuck Yeah!”? [Just a sampling…](http://beeradvocate.com/top_beers.php?c_id=US&style=) ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/32 "2006-03-22T23:03:49Z")
I can’t help thinking of the French beer company’s slogan: “Surrender your taste buds!” ---
**Author:** ![quietriot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7cd45c/32.png) [@quietriot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quietriot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/33 "2006-03-23T00:59:57Z")
The french are renown for their wine, not their beer. Its just like with the Spanish and the Italians – great wine, terrible beer. Go with Stella Artois or Jever for something light and bitter Chimay or Dekonik for something a big more heavy (both ales) ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/34 "2006-03-23T01:04:38Z")
> [@quietriot](#): > > The french are renown for their wine, not their beer. Its just like with the Spanish and the Italians – great wine, terrible beer. I was forced to drink some Italian Peroni beer at a bachelor party in October, and it was pretty skunky-tasting. You’re totally right about the good wine/bad beer thing. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/35 "2006-03-23T03:03:19Z")
> [@quietriot](#): > > The french are renown for their wine, not their beer. Its just like with the Spanish and the Italians – great wine, terrible beer. Well, that’s going to be the case in just about any country that you go to…the national beer is going to be a corn/rice and 6-row barley-based, lightly hopped lager, which accounts for something like 95% of world beer sales (hell, in Belgium, the beer mecca, Jupiler, a pale lager, is by far the country’s #1 brand), so it’s not really fair to single out countries like France, Spain or Italy when most of the world is like this. Of course, there’s always examples of small pockets of difference: the French _biere de gardes_, the saison-like beers found in the north, and small, Belgian-influenced breweries in Italy, even the bottom-fermented Baltic porters that are absolutely beautiful and sadly so rare. I’m partial to US micros simply because of the sheer passion for flavorful, creative beer by the brewers , and because it offers hope for a European scene currently getting hammered by consolidations (which happened in the US post-Prohibition). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/36 "2006-03-23T04:47:49Z")
> [@beergeek279](#): > > Well, that’s going to be the case in just about any country that you go to…the national beer is going to be a corn/rice and 6-row barley-based, lightly hopped lager… I’m not sure I completely agree with this. England’s most popular beer style is the bitter. In Germany, I believe Warsteiner is the best seller, and, while a lager, does not contain any corn or rice so far as I know. Go to Czech Republic, and you’ll find the same case there. Poland? Both Zywiec and Okocim, so far as my taste buds tell me, don’t contain any of these cheap and light grains. The difference and the point being made, at least that I thought, was that Spain, France, and Italy really don’t have _any_ celebrated beers. Germany, England, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, etc…, all do. Have you ever heard of anyone going out of their way to find a French beer? > [@](#): > > even the bottom-fermented Baltic porters that are absolutely beautiful and sadly so rare. Have you had Okocim Porter yet? Awesome. And pretty readily available in Chicago if you know where to look. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/37 "2006-03-23T05:12:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If you like hoppy ales, like I do, then the US certainly has the best beers in this category, bar none. > … > America’s brewing scene is simply incredible in the depth, breadth, and quality of its product. Check out breweries like Bell’s, Three Floyd’s, Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada, Flying Dog, Two Brothers, Dogfish Head, Avery, Anchor, plus all the hundreds or thousands of brewpubs across the country that make beer only locally available. Preach it, Brother Man! Don’t forget Stone, I have an [Arrogant Bastard Ale](http://www.arrogantbastard.com/) in primary at the moment (to anybody not familiar, read the website, it’s pretty funny). Are there ANY french IPAs? /enjoying an Anchor Liberty Ale at the moment ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/38 "2006-03-23T05:51:45Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > Are there ANY french IPAs? Hell, outside of America and England, their really aren’t many IPAs. Off the top of my head, I can’t name any at all. Even most English IPAs are quite toned-down compared to their American counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360/39 "2006-03-23T06:41:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m not sure I completely agree with this. England’s most popular beer style is the bitter. In Germany, I believe Warsteiner is the best seller, and, while a lager, does not contain any corn or rice so far as I know. Go to Czech Republic, and you’ll find the same case there. Poland? Both Zywiec and Okocim, so far as my taste buds tell me, don’t contain any of these cheap and light grains. Well, I did say “just about”, which doesn’t quite mean all…all these countries you mentioned have their own brewing traditions; English cask ales, the German Purity Law which prohibits rice and corn, and the Czech pils that revolutionized the brewing world (and led to the state we’re bemoaning here). Otherwise, most of the countries of the world tend to follow that pattern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-french-beer-any-good/349360.md?page=1)