The traditional ‘recipe’ for beer in France is for the brew to contain at least 50% barley, water, hops and yeast. 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. 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. They’ve got a huge selection of rare bottles from around France and Belgium, as well as a few good international brews. 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. Paris brewery La Goutte d'Or's Myrha pale ale, hoppy goodness for a sunny terrace. That year, there were 25 breweries in France. Craft Beer France vous propose une sélection unique de bières artisanales. 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! And in Pigalle, People Drug Store (peopledrugstore.fr) draws hipsters, grungesters and colourful characters who congregate inside and out front to sip on bottles from the vast fridges, play chess and generally hang about. But the industry was decimated during the 1940s. French Beers. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Brewing in a converted alpine hut: Brasserie des sources de Vanoise. The Belgian brewing tradition is long and revered, featuring a wealth of brews in traditional styles. In hindsight it’s pretty unbelievable I found this on draft at a our local place Kraftbar. This unassuming bar situated in a sleepy stretch of northeastern Paris is one of … Boire! A lot of Savoy brewers will tell you it’s a good place to brew beer in large part because there is a constant supply of pure water – the essential ingredient in making good suds – but the high alpine climate also lends itself to interesting ingredients, like wild hops and even saffron. 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. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. In the early 20th C there were over 2000 breweries in France. The beer is available on tap and in bottles all over the Valloire area and as far afield as Paris. 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. France is renowned worldwide for its vineyards and its tremendous variety of wine. While Provence is justifiably famous for its rosé wine, what is massively less well-known is its growing beer scene. Frequency of beer consumption in France 2015. If you’re just looking for a few souvenir bottles, La Cave à Bulles (facebook.com/lacaveabulles) is the place to go. 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. Visit the eco museum section and learn all about the family’s brewing history. They were originally brewed in farmhouses in winter  when temperatures meant fermentation was subdued and bugs kept at bay. French Translation. However, with industrialisation and the decline in rural populations, interest in the art and tradition of brewing wained and many breweries closed their doors. Beverage distributor since 2009, FRANCE BIÈRES was the brainchild of two passionate business partners, ever on the lookout for new flavours. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission. I want emails from Lonely Planet with travel and product information, promotions, advertisements, third-party offers, and surveys. Beer brewing is a traditional activity in France. These strong pale ales have their roots firmly in rural France. Carry on browsing if you're happy with this, or find out how to manage cookies. Beverage distributor since 2009, FRANCE BIÈRES is specialised in craft beers, wine, ciders, spirits, cordials and soft drinks in the Auvergne Rhônes-Alpes region. 3: Abbaye de Vauclair Rubis 4. Maybe it’s because of the fresh, pure water flowing straight from the source. CAVE a bieres artisanales. The best places to sample regional and craft beer in Lyon are clustered around Vieux Lyon. They have an excellent facility which is open to the public. Considered to be the first craft brewery in Paris, la Brasserie de la Goutte … Sweeney Todd’s is a small, intimate British-style pub located near the Garrone. Franche brewery, Jura. 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. Winter in France is filled with winter carnivals, Christmas Markets, and of course, skiing. Of all of France’s cities, Lyon may be its most salt-of-the-earth. The epicentre of France’s newly thriving beer-drinking culture is Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement. 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! 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. 2: Kronenbourg 1664 4.2. 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. In the 1990s there were around 40 breweries in France; currently, there are more than 600. 4: Brasserie de Bretagne Sant Patern 4. 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. It was the Rhub’ IPA by Page 24 (brewery St. Germain). Brasserie Georges is the most historic brewery in Lyon. Craft Beer France Importateur et distributeur de bières artisanales. In fact, France does have several unique ways of rendering beer, the most notable of which is bière de garde. France: annual volume of beer consumed per capita 2011-2018. Here are a few of our favorite craft beer shops, from new to established. Required fields are marked *. Mission Pale Ale, named for Mission Street in San Francisco, where Thomas and Mike first brewed together. 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! After the beer has fermented it is cold conditioned for a further  2 weeks or more and then bottled. They also sell other excellent regional products which you should try. Our plant's central location in the Tarentaise Valley allows us to supply local craft beer … Megan travelled to France with support from Savoie-Mont Blanc (savoie-mont-blanc.com). 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. Your email address will not be published. There is a full bar and taproom, Le BMB Bar (lebmb.com) open weekdays for tastings, food and brewery tours. One of the most widely seen speciality beer is Christmas beer,  brewed in October for maturation by the festive period. Or possibly it’s just because, after a long day hiking up crevices or swooshing down pistes, there is simply nothing better than a cold, fresh ale. Their Ch’ti beer is probably their best known craft beer and is made from local Flanders hops. People have brewed and enjoyed beer for over 2,000 years. Many artisanal and craft breweries in France produce speciality beers for certain times of the year. In Lyon, the sun-drenched brasserie terraces of most French cities are replaced by cosy beer-forward boozers with long lines of taps and beer-friendly foods like cured sausage, stews and, every workingman’s favourite, tripe. The region around Lac Bourget is a good place to start a beer tour of the French Alps. 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. The Pas de Calais region is known for its traditional ‘bières de garde’ which means ‘keeping beers’. Indeed, most communes had their own little micro brewery to satisfy local demand. (Photo courtesy of Brasserie du Mont Blanc.) Mountains and beer: was ever there a better combination of two things? Brasserie is more than a brewery, it's also a social mission to make craft beer making a sustainable endeavor. 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. It’s quite rare to find French craft beers outside of France! 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. We use cookies to provide you with a better service. Brasserie La Goutte d’Or. The Egyptians reportedly produced the stuff, and Cleopatra used it as a beauty tonic. Christmas beers are richer, maltier and hoppier than most and contain orange peel plus those traditional Christmas spices of cinnamon and ginger. Check out some beers from all around France including big heavyweights like Kronenbourg to smaller breweries like Ardwen Blonde. Image by Megan Eaves / Lonely Planet, Deck & Donohue Dry Hopping Is Not A Crime Centennial pale ale at Les Trois 8. I drank my first French craft beer – believe it or not – in Rotterdam. 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. Consumption frequency of craft beers in France 2017. They have been transforming water into beer for over 90 years at their brewery at Bénifontaine near Lens and the Belgian border. 1.1K likes. Our beverage points of sale and distribution await you in Andrézieux and Savigneux in the Forez, and in Irigny for the Lyon region. 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. It is conditioned for between 6 and 10 weeks which gives it its complex aroma and flavour. 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