[tommymorris]

I have been on a bicycle tour in France for a about a week now. Of course, France is known for wine, but I have been surprised how much beer I see people drinking at the cafes.

I have found very few French beers. Most of the beer I have encountered is industrial scale Belgian beers. I have tried La Chouffe Blond, Leffe Blond, Grimbergen Blond, and Delirium Tremens.  All have been great. One thing, I have noticed, I usually avoid Belgian beers because I am not a fan of high levels of phenols. But, these beers all have mild phenols and spice that complement the beer. I have really enjoyed them.

I have also tried Kronenbourg 1664, which is a pale lager. It’s the only French mass market beer I have seen. It’s definitely good on a hot day.

I also had a Heineken pression (draft). It was the only a beer a restaurant had.

I have tried one craft beer- they call them artisanal in France. I don’t remember the brewery. That was also a blonde. But, it actually tasted more like a Wit to me.

Figure 1: Chateau de Chenonceau

Figure 2: Cafe in Saumur, France.

[BrewBama]

What a cool trip. Looks like a blast!

[fredthecat]

awesome, may be known, but france had and likely still has to a degree traditional and regional beer cultures. in ww1 there was a consolidation of alcohol distributed to soldiers (or so the hi-story claims) which was cheap red wine generally and this was brought back to traditional beer cider or other alcohol drinking regions after the war.

[Megary]

Very nice!  Keep the pix coming!

[Drewch]

France leads Europe in number of breweries (tho not in total production).

Craft beer boom is strong around the country, and the amount of microbreweries has exploded – in fact there are more breweries in France than in any other country in Europe, way over two thousand!
(https://craftbeernomads.com/craft-beer-in-alsace-france-boumr-and-taal/)

But I get the impression most of them are very niche with limited distribution.

[tommymorris]

France leads Europe in number of breweries (tho not in total production).

Craft beer boom is strong around the country, and the amount of microbreweries has exploded – in fact there are more breweries in France than in any other country in Europe, way over two thousand!
(https://craftbeernomads.com/craft-beer-in-alsace-france-boumr-and-taal/)

But I get the impression most of them are very niche with limited distribution.

Lots of cafes have signs about artisanal beers being available. So, that jives with their being lots of craft beers available. But, artisanal beers are mostly in bottles. Most of the taps are industrial scale breweries.