French Beer

Atlantic Rubis au Pineau de Charentes Rosé: French Golden Ale 6% (Brasserie des Gabariers)
Quite sweet with raspberries, cherries, floral perfume and a little pepper. The wine is quite evident on the finish, and there is an acidic bite too. Highly carbonated with very little bitterness. 7.5/10

Barbe Bleue: French Double Stout, 7% (Brasserie Mélusine)
Very earthy bitterness, lots of chocolate and light liquorice. A bit smokey, roasty, almost burnt and slightly rough. 6.5/10

Blanche du Large: French Wheat Beer, 5% (Brasserie Moehau)
Lots of yeast, some apples and gooseberries, plus the usual citrus. Chopped up herbs, most distinctly coriander. Dry aftertaste. 6/10

Cervoise: French Brown Ale, 6.5% (Brasserie Mélusine)
I’m sure I can faintly taste apples. Lightly bitter with a little roasted malt and some honey sweetness. Biscuits and nuts. Moderate hops on the finish. 7.5/10

Ch’ti Blonde: French Bière de Garde, 6.7% (Brasserie Castelain)
Yeast and hops, flowers, grass and honey. A little bit spicy with cloves and pepper. Some light fruit – lemon, apple, melon. Slight bitter earthiness on the finish. 6/10

Ciao Bella: French Kolsch, 4.5% (BDQ Beer Co)
Very soft and a bit doughy. Pineapple, white grapes, marshmallow, boiled sweets. Very mild malt backbone. Finish is sweet and dry. Richard hated it. 6/10

Dama Blanca: French IPA, 5% (BDQ Beer Co)
Quite rich for an IPA, robust, with quite a bit of malt. The usual citrus fruits, and a bit of green tea. A bit floral with a hint of elderflower. 6/10

Hini Du: French Black Ale, 4.7% (Brasserie An Alarc’h)
Full bodied. Roasted coffee, chocolate covered raisins and treacle. Balanced bitterness with pleasant malty notes and a hint of liquorice. Sharply carbonated. It just lacks a bit of body that would make it really good. 7.5/10

La Charnue Ambrée: French Amber Ale, 7% (Brasserie Castelain)
Full bodied. Sweet honey and crisp green apples and fresh peaches. Quite malty with a dry finish. Medium carbonation. 7.5/10

La Bête Rouge: French Fruit Beer, 8% (Micro Brasserie La Bête)
A sour cherry bomb. Deep, rich, jammy and packed full of flavour. Juicy with a puckering finish and a bitter hop note. If I had a criticism it’s that it’s slightly artificial, but so are Rainbow Drops and they are like crack. This is right up my street. 8.5/10

La Girouette Brune: French Dark Ale, 8.5% (La Girouette)
Dark toffee and slight coffee, but soft like cappuccino, with only a little bit of bite. Very reminiscent of chewing nuts from a sweet shop. Deep and full bodied. Hint of dates. Perfect carbonation. A little metallic on the finish. 8.5/10

La Goudale: French Bière de Garde, 5.2% (Brasserie Goulant)
Lemon, orange, apricots, bread. Malty and surprisingly quite rich and more wheaty that I was expecting. There’s something a bit earthy and leathery about it. A bit sweet but nicely balance by carbonation. 7.5/10

Le Kerné Cider: French Cider 4.5% (Cidrerie Familiale)
Yes, yes. Not a beer. But we are in Brittany and cider is king. And it is wonderful – I can’t get enough of it. This is sweet, but not sickly, full of flavour and rich but not heavy, crisp but not drying. It tastes of nothing but apples. Glorious stuff. 9/10

Lancelot: French Blonde Beer, 6% (Brasserie Lancelot)
Umami in a beer like I’ve never tasted. Meaty, rich, deep mushroom flavour. Robust dried apricots and hearty yeast. Medium carbonation. 8.5/10

(Lancelot) La Blanche Hermine: French Wheat Beer, 4% (Brasserie Lancelot)
Very faint coriander and one-dimensional citrus. Wheaty, but otherwise bland and a bit musty and flat. 4/10

Mil.lenari Blonde Ambrée: French Ale, 5.3%, (Brasserie Milles)
Very light on the hops, and light in general. Typical lemon and some light grassiness. Overall fairly pedestrian and generic. 5/10

Namnèt Deoch: French Red Ale, 6.5% (Brasserie le Ponceau)
Strong flavours of caramel malt and brown sugar with some prunes and raisins. Quite rich and roasty. Faint chestnuts and cocoa. A little metallic on the finish. 7/10

Pimpon: French Petite Saison, 4% (BDQ Beer Co)
Soap. Slightly floral, citric acidity, very bitter. Lots more soap. Quite awful. 2/10

Rimshot Blonde: French Blonde Ale, 4.6% (Brasserie Mira)
Little bit of honey, some cereal, malt and some light floral honey sweetness. Very peppery. Quite low carbonation, and a soft mouthfeel. Gorgeous. 9.5/10

R de Ratz XV: French Blonde Ale, 6.5% (Brasserie Artisinale Ratz)
Light and refreshing with faint yeast. A hint of citrus, grapefruit and ginger. 6.5/10

Rousse de Plaisir: French Red Ale, 5.8% (Brasserie Caporal)
Lovely caramel sweetness, with a hint of red fruits. Hops are lightly fruity too. Bitterness is sturdy but not OTT. Low carbonation, and very soft. 7/10

Serial Friends l’IPA: French IPA, 6% (Brasserie de la Seillonne)
Unbelievably bitter. Tangy, soapy. A sharp hit of burnt bread and maybe some white grapes. The unpleasant bitterness lingers for ages. 3.5/10

Serial Friends Triple: French Triple, 8.4% (Brasserie de la Seillonne)
Bold fruits, banana bread and golden syrup. Big and bright malt. Gorgeous and chunky. Sweet yet tangy with a prickly semi-dry finish. 8/10

Tête de Mule Blanche: French Wheat Beer, 5.5% (Brasserie du Marais Poitevin)
Big on the malt as well as wheat. Classic citrus – both orange and lemon – and coriander seed. Some biscuits and cereal. Lacks character, but a perfectly acceptable version of this style. 5/10

Tres Ficela: French Stout, 4% (BDQ Beer Co)
Really chocolatey. Light stale coffee notes, some char and barley and a strong blast of earthy bitterness. Weak mouthfeel and a touch of metal. 5/10

Trois Chariots: French IPA, 6.3% (Brasserie de Sutter)
Good balance between hops and malt. A bit spicy, with bold dark fruits and caramel sweetness. Medium bitterness. The hops ramp up on the finish and linger quite a bit. 7/10

Zoobrew Porter: French Porter, 5.5% (ZooBrew Brasserie Animale)
Way too bitter. Very little carbonation. Coffee, but the stale stuff from a petrol station vending machine. Mud. The Lidl biscuits I ate to get rid of the taste were nice. 3/10

Zoobrew Red Ale: French Red Ale, 4.4% (ZooBrew Brasserie Animale)
Some caramel sweetness and some faint hops. Slightly earthy with a hint of cherry. Very sharp carbonation, like a fizzy drink, but otherwise quite plain and watery. Taste is very mild. 4/10

Bière Brune de l’Oncle Hansi: French Brown Ale, 5.6% (Brasserie La Saint-Pierre) Faintly burnt toast. Tinny. Slight roasted coffee, a bit of malt and bitterness, but overall a bit meh. 5/10
Cidre de Bretagne Brut: French Dry Cider, 4.5% (Val de Rance) Tart green apples, with peels, sharply acidic; almost vinegary. A little bit of hay and meadow and cereal. Light sweetness taken over by bitter tannins. The dryness is quite intense. 7/10
La Choulette Ambrée: French Bière de Garde Ambrée, 8% (Brasserie La Choulette) Very malty; sweet with raisins, figs, toffee and red berries. Slightly tart cherries, and burnt sugar. There’s a presence of brandy in the background. Medium body and carbonation. 8/10
La Grenouille Assoiffée Ambrée: French Amber Ale, 5.8% (La Grenouille Assoiffée) Very heavy on the hops. Floral, with green apples and a bit peppery. Slightly savoury. A bit piquant. Dry finish. 7/10
La Sober IPA: French IPA, 5.9% (Brasserie Du Lavoir) Quite creamy and resinous with lots of grain and malt, and a robust hoppy bitterness. Strong citrus and muted pine; semi-sweet caramel. Carbonation has a bite. Long aftertaste. 7/10
Lobotomy Factory: French White Fruit Beer, 5% (Brasserie Sainte Cru) Grapefruit and watermelons dominate, though overall this is watery and thin. Very dry, too sour, and lacks depth. 3/10
Manala: French Amber Ale, 5% (Brasserie Sainte Cru) Sticky chocolate malt, some faint fruit and spicy yeast notes. Fizzy, with a hint of cola. My main criticism is that it’s a bit muddy and slightly under carbonated. 7/10
Orange Mecanique: French Ale, 7% (Brasserie Sainte Cru) Quite metallic. Hoppy with some coffee and caramel, shallow with a lingering bitterness. The orange is very faint. 4.5/10
O’St Trop: French Blonde Ale, 6.5% (Brasserie Goudale) Mildly floral, a dash of citrus, but with a bit of corn sweetness. A bit deeper and more robust than a lager, but still very refreshing. We tried this on tap at a bar in Calais, but couldn’t find any info about it on the brewery website, so this was possibly brewed exclusively for the bar – they did indicate that it was an “in house” beer. 6/10
Pelforth Brune: French Brown Ale, 6.5% (Brasserie Heineken) Lots of malt, coffee and some cola and cocoa. There is a bit too much caramel sweetness. Medium carbonation. It’s very much on the sweet side, with some mild bitterness on the finish. It’s basic, but Richard loves this style a lot, which adds on half a point. 5.5/10
Bier Picon This is not a specific beer, but rather a French way of drinking beer. A shot of Amer Picon (a digestive similar to an Italian Amaro) is added to a basic lager (something like Heineken.) I love Amaro, and this is a great way of making shit beer taste very nice. Picon specifically has a very distinct orange flavour in addition to the usual bitters and spices of this type of digestive. Very much worth a try, especially as Picon is pretty affordable in the UK.

French Beer

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