Literally ‘keeping beer’, bière de garde was designed to be a drinkable and storable brew that farmers could brew in the winter (when yeasts were easier to control) and chuck into their cellars to ‘sup on for the next season. It is conditioned for between 6 and 10 weeks which gives it its complex aroma and flavour. Historic Brasserie Georges is a beautiful art-deco beer hall that's been open since 1836 and offers four house beers. Most beer sold in France is pilsner lager, mass-produced by major breweries which control over 90% of the market, although there are also traditional beer styles, such as top-fermented Bière de Garde, and a number of microbreweries. The delicious ambrée (amber) here is, in part, homage to Colorado powerhouse brewery Odell’s 90 Shilling. However, with industrialisation and the decline in rural populations, interest in the art and tradition of brewing wained and many breweries closed their doors. Franche brewery, Jura. Here is our guide to drinking beer in France, from sun-soaked brasseries to high alpine huts. Consumption frequency of craft beers in France 2017. They’ve got a huge selection of rare bottles from around France and Belgium, as well as a few good international brews. Fall is a time to celebrate the release of Beaujolais nouveau wine in November, as well as experience Nuit Blanche, a day in October when major attractions, museums, galleries, … See Montpellier at a glance. 4: Brasserie de Bretagne Sant Patern 4. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Sample all of Brasserie Galibier's beers at Auberge de Plan Lachat, an alpine hut in the shadow of the col. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. With more than 2,000 independent brewers, France is the European leader in the business of craft beer, with an astonishing range of flavours available. Required fields are marked *. Hoppy Corner Paris. In fact it’s well and truly thriving with plenty of micro-breweries popping up across the region. Beverage distributor since 2009, FRANCE BIÈRES is specialised in craft beers, wine, ciders, spirits, cordials and soft drinks in the Auvergne Rhônes-Alpes region. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Wide selection of French beer available at ArtMalté in Annecy. There are also a couple of craft beer options such as BrewDog. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. Mission Pale Ale, named for Mission Street in San Francisco, where Thomas and Mike first brewed together. Your email address will not be published. Many artisanal and craft breweries in France produce speciality beers for certain times of the year. Considered to be the first craft brewery in Paris, la Brasserie de la Goutte … Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Traveling in 2021 - here's what to expect, The places travellers are searching to go in 2021, according to Airbnb. How to say craft beer in French. Here are a few of our favorite craft beer shops, from new to established. If you get peckish, Crock ‘n’ Roll (thecrocknroll.fr) around the corner serves artisanal ‘croques’ (French-style toasted sandwiches) as big as your face, as well as craft beers and vinyl records. Craft Beer France Importateur et distributeur de bières artisanales. There is a full bar and taproom, Le BMB Bar (lebmb.com) open weekdays for tastings, food and brewery tours. The brewing knowledge has been passed down through the generations and today their ‘garde’ beer continues to win awards worldwide. Brasserie du Galibier (biere-galibier.com) caters to the resort set in Valloire with its American-inspired but distinctly French brews. With that change, diversity and regional styles declined as well. Frequency of beer consumption in France 2015. In hilltop Montmartre, Le Supercoin (supercoin.net) is a neighbourhood beer bar that stocks numerous French beers in bottle and on tap, including the fresh brews from Brasserie de la Goutte d’Or just down the road. Les Trois 8 (lestrois8.fr) is a teeny beer-forward bar that stocks a huge range of French and international beers on tap, and nearby La Fine Mousse (lafinemousse.fr) is both an artisanal beer bar and restaurant where you can pair modern French cooking and brewing under one roof. For beer cellars, try Fietje at 36 rue des Trois frères Bathélémy, 13006 Marseille, which as the name suggests specialises in Belgian brews but has over 300 craft beers from a range of countries. Carry on browsing if you're happy with this, or find out how to manage cookies. Our young, dynamic team has just one goal – customer satisfaction. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Deck & Donohue Dry Hopping Is Not A Crime Centennial pale ale at Les Trois 8. Visit the eco museum section and learn all about the family’s brewing history. The ales are usually a copper or golden colour and, as the name suggests, they were brewed for maturing or cellaring for a period of time, just like a grand cru red from Bordeaux! My top 5 beers from France. Also here, Brasserie Le Pirate (facebook.com/BrasseriePirate) has a pirate-themed taproom in an industrial estate and Alpine-themed Brasserie des Cimes (brasserie-des-cimes.com), which is open Monday-Wednesday for brewery tours and tastings. Brasserie du Mont Blanc (brasserie-montblanc.com) – amazingly, France’s second-largest brewer after Kronenbourg 1664 – was formed by brewer Sylvain Chiron, who learned to love beer on the west coast of the US and later learned to make beer from Trappist monks.  The ABV range should be between 6% and 8.5%, so they’re not for the faint-hearted. Our beverage points of sale and distribution await you in Andrézieux and Savigneux in the Forez, and in Irigny for the Lyon region. The Egyptians reportedly produced the stuff, and Cleopatra used it as a beauty tonic. We use cookies to provide you with a better service. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Brewing in a converted alpine hut: Brasserie des sources de Vanoise. The following are the highest rated beers brewed in France as they appear in the ranks at … In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. After the beer has fermented it is cold conditioned for a further  2 weeks or more and then bottled. It was the Rhub’ IPA by Page 24 (brewery St. Germain). However, over recent years, various alternative ingredients have crept into the mix such as fruit juice, spices and vegetable colours. They have been transforming water into beer for over 90 years at their brewery at Bénifontaine near Lens and the Belgian border. Maybe it’s because of the fresh, pure water flowing straight from the source. Our group started out by focusing on craft beers in its first depot in the Saint Etienne region, ''Forez Bières Boisson'' and has continued to grow and broaden its fields of expertise ever since. Bière de garde can range in colour from a pale, straw yellow to a deep amber and, because its definition is a bit nebulous, it is a great chance for French brewers to experiment and make their mark on a unique style of beer all their own. Brasserie La Goutte d’Or. If you’re just looking for a few souvenir bottles, La Cave à Bulles (facebook.com/lacaveabulles) is the place to go. Sweeney Todd’s is a small, intimate British-style pub located near the Garrone. French craft beer: the history. The history of beer in France could explain a lot about the status of this drink in the country today. They were originally brewed in farmhouses in winter  when temperatures meant fermentation was subdued and bugs kept at bay. Local brewery Ninkasi (ninkasi.fr/en) is a mainstay with a whopping 12 locations around the city. These strong pale ales have their roots firmly in rural France. Indeed, most communes had their own little micro brewery to satisfy local demand. The craft beer scene in Paris is showing no sign in slowing down, and luckily, shops specializing in this popular beverage are keeping up to speed with the movement with new spots opening up all the time. Since beer is quite a popular drink there, the industry seems to be slowly recovering from the effects of the world wars. Boire! However, many craft beers are aged in barrels which makes them more acidic, light and refreshing and therefore excellent aperitifs. This could well be the artisan brewer’s door to wider acceptance within the French household! But as devotees of craft beer know, there is more to beer than simple tradition. 3: Abbaye de Vauclair Rubis 4. However, beer is also very popular in the country; in France, there is a wide range of craft beers that enjoy great recognition, both nationally and internationally. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet. Traditionally a workaday city, Lyon has maintained its down-to-earth attitude and, despite being on the doorstep of the Rhône wine region, Lyon is a beer-drinking town. Come with an open mind and thirsty palate and you might just find yourself preferring France’s beer to its wine. Craft Beer from the French Riviera. The tiny Brasserie des sources de Vanoise (brasserievanoise.com) brews three saffron-infused beers in a converted alpine house in the village of Villarodin-Bourget. Les Fleurs du Malt (lesfleursdumaltlebar.fr) has probably the best selection in Lyon (they also operate a bottle shop not far from Guillotière), with hundreds of bottles in a cellar space along the riverside. I can unsubscribe any time using the unsubscribe link at the end of all emails. Their Ch’ti beer is probably their best known craft beer and is made from local Flanders hops. They have an excellent facility which is open to the public. The epicentre of France’s newly thriving beer-drinking culture is Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement. One of the most widely seen speciality beer is Christmas beer,  brewed in October for maturation by the festive period. In the early 20th C there were over 2000 breweries in France. A spokesperson for the Brasseurs de France identifies 1985 as the start of France’s craft beer resurgence. The climate of NE France and also its soil and underground springs provide ideal conditions for the cultivation of barley, wheat and hops, those essential ingredients in the production of beer. The Castelain family is one of the best known craft beer brewing familes in NE France. (Photo courtesy of Brasserie du Mont Blanc.) Megan travelled to France with support from Savoie-Mont Blanc (savoie-mont-blanc.com). If you want great craft beer in Bordeaux, Jaqen is by far the best place to go for a wide variety of French brews. 2: Kronenbourg 1664 4.2. Until recently, beer drinkers in France who wanted to quaff anything with character had to be content with a limited number of foreign-made beers, mostly from Belgium. Superbières – For Super-Beer and Super-Sandwiches France: annual volume of beer consumed per capita 2011-2018. Beverage distributor since 2009, FRANCE BIÈRES was the brainchild of two passionate business partners, ever on the lookout for new flavours. Chers French Beer Geeks, j'ai le plaisir de vous annoncer que le nombre de brasseries en activité en France métropolitaine vient de dépasser les 1000 unités! That year, there were 25 breweries in France. Published by Statista Research Department, Oct 12, 2020 This bar chart displays a forecast of the sales value from craft beer in France from 2016 to … The craze for craft beer has not passed this area by. 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