Thankfully, in the past few decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in micro brewing. 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. They were originally brewed in farmhouses in winter  when temperatures meant fermentation was subdued and bugs kept at bay. The Truth About France’s Craft Beer Movement Tom Acitelli August 17, 2015 Inspired by the popularity of microbreweries in the U.S., Sylvain Chiron established Brasserie du Mont Blanc in the Savoy region of France in 1999. The Pas de Calais region is known for its traditional ‘bières de garde’ which means ‘keeping beers’. 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. France is renowned worldwide for its vineyards and its tremendous variety of wine. However, beer? The brewing of craft beers in France is rapidly gaining in popularity but will craft beer ever replace wine on the French table? Brasserie is more than a brewery, it's also a social mission to make craft beer making a sustainable endeavor. CAVE a bieres artisanales. Mountains and beer: was ever there a better combination of two things? Since beer is quite a popular drink there, the industry seems to be slowly recovering from the effects of the world wars. Required fields are marked *. 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. In hindsight it’s pretty unbelievable I found this on draft at a our local place Kraftbar. There’s even a Paris Beer Week, though most of the craft beers in France are a … These strong pale ales have their roots firmly in rural France. Here, formerly gritty spaces have transformed into little bars and hip restaurants where in-the-know Parisians go for their fix of gourmet beer and, sometimes, food to pair with it. French Translation. Megan travelled to France with support from Savoie-Mont Blanc (savoie-mont-blanc.com). In fact it’s well and truly thriving with plenty of micro-breweries popping up across the region. Paris brewery La Goutte d'Or's Myrha pale ale, hoppy goodness for a sunny terrace. Frequency of beer consumption in France 2015. A Craft Beer Revolution Is Brewing in Paris By Kate Robinson on June 24, 2014 A few years ago, a small group of people began to wonder where French beer had gone ”“ but more importantly, how to bring it back. I want emails from Lonely Planet with travel and product information, promotions, advertisements, third-party offers, and surveys. However, over recent years, various alternative ingredients have crept into the mix such as fruit juice, spices and vegetable colours. My top 5 beers from France. Beverage distributor since 2009, FRANCE BIÈRES is specialised in craft beers, wine, ciders, spirits, cordials and soft drinks in the Auvergne Rhônes-Alpes region. Come with an open mind and thirsty palate and you might just find yourself preferring France’s beer to its wine. Capital cities are great places for beer culture to grow and thrive, as trends and new cultures tend to be more readily accepted in urban centres, and Paris is no exception. Brasserie du Galibier (biere-galibier.com) caters to the resort set in Valloire with its American-inspired but distinctly French brews. Not far away are Les BerThoM (lesberthom.com), which has a selection of draft beers from France and Belgium served in another cavernous space, and the petite The Beers (3 place Saint-Paul; +33 4 72 00 23 60), where the bar staff are friendly and can offer suggestions in English. 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. In the early 20th C there were over 2000 breweries in France. See Montpellier at a glance. People have brewed and enjoyed beer for over 2,000 years. 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. 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. The brewing knowledge has been passed down through the generations and today their ‘garde’ beer continues to win awards worldwide. 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. In the 1990s there were around 40 breweries in France; currently, there are more than 600. NICE. This unassuming bar situated in a sleepy stretch of northeastern Paris is one of … Here are a few of our favorite craft beer shops, from new to established. Many small craft breweries have revived traditional brewing methods and now produce unique and top quality craft beers. Beer and mountains: the perfect combination. 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 … Franche brewery, Jura. Winter in France is filled with winter carnivals, Christmas Markets, and of course, skiing. Local brewery Ninkasi (ninkasi.fr/en) is a mainstay with a whopping 12 locations around the city. I drank my first French craft beer – believe it or not – in Rotterdam. In the early 20th C there were over 2000 breweries in France. It’s possibe to purchase the full range of speciality beers from their shop and even order kegs of beer for that special occasion you’re planning for the summer. One of the most widely seen speciality beer is Christmas beer,  brewed in October for maturation by the festive period. There are also a couple of craft beer options such as BrewDog. Considered to be the first craft brewery in Paris, la Brasserie de la Goutte … There’s even one called ‘La Guillotine’ Friends toast at Delirium Cafe, a beer bar with 47 taps that opened in Toulouse, France, last summer. You’ll also learn the brewing secrets for the famous bière de garde and have the opportunity to taste a freshly brewed beer at the end. Maybe it’s because of the fresh, pure water flowing straight from the source. Check out some beers from all around France including big heavyweights like Kronenbourg to smaller breweries like Ardwen Blonde. If you’re just looking for a few souvenir bottles, La Cave à Bulles (facebook.com/lacaveabulles) is the place to go. 4: Brasserie de Bretagne Sant Patern 4. Beer brewing is a traditional activity in France. 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. French Beers. If you want great craft beer in Bordeaux, Jaqen is by far the best place to go for a wide variety of French brews. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Deck & Donohue Dry Hopping Is Not A Crime Centennial pale ale at Les Trois 8. All rights reserved. Sample it at the brewery everyday from 4.30-6.30pm, or at the lovely Auberge de Plan Lachat (D902 Route des Grandes Alpes, 04 79 59 23 16), a mountain hut in the shadow of the Galibier pass – one of the cols on the Tour de France. With year-round sunshine, four miles of beaches and an endless list of activities on offer, Nice is one of the oldest French wine regions as well as a growing beer … The beer was then conditioned during the spring and used to nourish and sustain farmworkers later in the year as they toiled in the fields. Breweries across the country are taking a nod from their Belgian neighbours, finding influence in American styles and hops, utilising their fresh and wonderful home-soil ingredients and even reviving a historic and uniquely French style of beer: bière de garde. 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. Craft beer brewing in France Wonderful smallscale micro breweries are scattered throughout France producing a huge variety of award-winning craft beers to delight any beer connoisseur. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. 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, … But as devotees of craft beer know, there is more to beer than simple tradition. It was the Rhub’ IPA by Page 24 (brewery St. Germain). Sweeney Todd’s. 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. 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! Hoppy Corner Paris. 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. However, with industrialisation and the decline in rural populations, interest in the art and tradition of brewing wained and many breweries closed their doors. It’s quite rare to find French craft beers outside of France! 2: Kronenbourg 1664 4.2. The best places to sample regional and craft beer in Lyon are clustered around Vieux Lyon. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Gourmet pairing: beer and food at La Fine Mousse in Paris' Oberkampf district. Craft Beer from the French Riviera. In preindustrial France beer was brewed to serve a local population, which was also the case throughout the “grain belt” of Europe and North America. Consumption frequency of craft beers in France 2017. © 2021 Lonely Planet. The region around Lac Bourget is a good place to start a beer tour of the French Alps. Sweeney Todd’s is a small, intimate British-style pub located near the Garrone. Indeed, most communes had their own little micro brewery to satisfy local demand. That year, there were 25 breweries in France. 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. The following are the highest rated beers brewed in France as they appear in the ranks at … How to say craft beer in French. There is a full bar and taproom, Le BMB Bar (lebmb.com) open weekdays for tastings, food and brewery tours. 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! The Castelain family is one of the best known craft beer brewing familes in NE France. Craft beers are to NE France what wine is to Bordeaux and they even have their own Appellation Contrôlée designation. It is conditioned for between 6 and 10 weeks which gives it its complex aroma and flavour. Where Colorado – the beating heart of the Rocky Mountains – was one of the frontrunners on the American craft beer scene, so the Alps region has been leading the charge in French brewing; in particular, the Savoy region. As the French economy became industrialized, small rural breweries suffered and urban breweries grew with the shift in population. In quaint lakeside Annecy, solo brewer Stéphanie Altermatt is making waves with her boutique brewery ArtMalté (artmalte.com), a tiny one-room operation that turns into a cosy beer bar on Friday evenings. Typically, bière de garde is a top-fermented (so, ale not lager) pale or amber-coloured beer; sometimes – though not always – similar to Belgian-type farmhouse or saison (season) beers. I can unsubscribe any time using the unsubscribe link at the end of all emails. Saveur Bière is France's market-leader for online beer sales, offering an ever growing range of bottled beers, beer pumps, beer glasses, and beer assortments. While Provence is justifiably famous for its rosé wine, what is massively less well-known is its growing beer scene. Your email address will not be published. The traditional ‘recipe’ for beer in France is for the brew to contain at least 50% barley, water, hops and yeast. They have an excellent facility which is open to the public. Visit the eco museum section and learn all about the family’s brewing history. Although the number of craft breweries has doubled since 2010, beer consumption in France is a long way from becoming mainstream. The average French person will still prefer a glass of wine with their meal and this isn’t likely to change any time soon. In fact, France does have several unique ways of rendering beer, the most notable of which is bière de garde. 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. Springtime in France produce speciality beers for certain times of the year sample. With travel and product information, promotions, advertisements, third-party offers, and craft beer in france Page! Combination of two things enable JavaScript in your browser couple of craft beer shops, from to. 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