Tour de Biere: a French craft beer revolution

  Image by Seattle Craft Beer Examiner

Today is Bastille Day, France's Fête Nationale, as well as stage 11 of the Tour de France, which started on July 4 and rides into Paris on July 26. Many of you may be planning a French-themed celebration to commemorate either of these occasions, and odds are that beer won't be on your menu. The French do many edibles well (wine, cheese, pastries, breads, gourmet cuisine in general), but French beer is almost unheard of. But wait a minute, you may say, I drink  Maudite all the time! That's right, Unibroue is from Quebec, not France.

This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: France's drink of choice has traditionally been wine. France produces more wine than any other country, and French wine is generally regarded as the best. It may be that their wine is so good that France has never needed to bother with beer. Perhaps they can just import every beer they need from their language-sharing, hop-loving neighbor to the north, Belgium. At Pike Street Beer and Wine, the sales associate was unaware that the store stocked any French beer until the proprietor pointed us towards the miscellaneous European section; I purchased one bottle of each French beer in stock: all three of them. Each is named after some terrible monster, making me wonder if this is reflective of a general vinocentric view of beer as wine's miscreant cousin. Bottleworks has a similar-sized selection of French craft beer, maybe 5 or 6 different varieties.

The French beer scene is essentially where the US was 25 years ago, with large, mediocre breweries covering the majority of the market; Wikipedia lists only 10 breweries for the entire country, whereas Belgium, with 1/6 of France's population, has 68. However, according to Wine Spectator, the youth of France are drinking less wine and more beer; explanations for this phenomenon are that good wine is expensive and that France's recent crackdown on alcoholism has led consumers to seek drinks with lower ABV's. No judgment on France from this beer reviewer for their lack of beer: it's just not their thing. However, if beer is your thing, and you don't want to forgo hops to celebrate liberté, egalité and fraternité, read on.

Brasseries Kronenbourg is France's Anheuser-Busch in both style and popularity. Their Kronenbourg 1664, a European pale lager, pours straw yellow with a good amount of foam and trace lacing. There is not much aroma. There is not much flavor. What flavor there is tastes somewhat like cider, but mostly this is a beer of sensation, not taste: it is crisp with an ever-so-slightly bitter finish. I bought mine in the beer aisle at the Broadway QFC, and you can tell a lot about a beer based on which side of the aisle it is found on at the Broadway QFC. The right side is American craft beer and quality imported beer, while the left is mainly commercial adjunct swill. Guess which side of the aisle I found Kronenbourg? It's a step up from Bud, and I might even buy it again to please a crowd at a barbecue, but it is by no means an interesting or inspiring beer. $7.99/6-pack @ QFC

Brasserie Grain D'orge's Belzebuth, at 13% and $4.49 for an 8.4 oz bottle, clearly can't make up its mind whether it's a beer or a wine, though in flavor is closest to whiskey. It has a creamy white head and an amber body, with an aroma that starts with floral, honey overtures and becomes unpleasantly acrid. It is sweet at first sip, and then takes on whiskey's bittersweet flavor and warming sensation. Other than the nostril-burning smell, it's not terrible, especially if you like your drinks to burn as they go down; it's suitable for sipping after dinner in place of cognac or brandy or pairing with an equally sharp cheese. Even in a miniature bottle, this is a beer to split with a friend. $4.49 @ Pike Street Beer and Wine (also seen at Bottleworks and QFC)

La Bete Des Vosges from Brasserie Artisinale Des Vosgesis a strong (8%) amber ale that pours cloudy with some yeasty residue and little head. It has a buttery, sugary aroma and a slightly sweet, earthy character. There are notes of whiskey, and it certainly tastes alcoholic; in fact, it almost evaporates in your mouth. Not speaking any French, a Google search has me under the impression that La Bete Des Vosges is some sort of terrifying, man-eating dog, a fitting name for a beer that seems to be eating your insides. $3.99 @ Pike Street Beer and Wine.

Finally, Yeti from Brasserie des Cimes begs to throw out the Ancien Régime of wine. I wasn't expecting much from a bottle with a cute cartoon Sasquatch on the label, and was quite taken with this Golden Blonde. Yeti pours amber with a foamy head and tastes of pure champagne: a little sweet, a little tart, with hints of green apple. It isn't a weak beer (8% ABV) but is so delicately flavored with such a light mouthfeel that one could contentedly sip it all evening. $3.99 @ Pike Street Beer and Wine.

So, to mix metaphors, Yeti gets the yellow jersey while the others are sent to the guillotine. Let them drink Yeti!

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